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ACCOUNT 'j&Jto?* 

JANE C. RIDER, 



THE SUBSTANCE OF WHICH WAS DELIVERED AS A 
LECTURE BEFORE THE SPRINGFIELD 
LYCEUM, JAN. 22, 1834 



IV) 



L 
By L. W. BELDEN, M. D. 




SPRINGFIELD : 
PUBLISHED BY G. AND C. MEERIAM. 

1834. 












Entered according to the Act of Congress, in the year 
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//■fi 



* PREFACE. 

It was originally my intention to 
make the extraordinary case of Miss 
Rider the subject of a communication 
to one of the Medical Journals ; and, 
on that account, though frequently so- 
licited, I have uniformly declined to 
furnish a statement of the facts for 
publication in the newspapers. After 
the delivery of the Lecture which forms 
the basis of the following history, it 
was suggested, by several gentlemen, 
that the popular form in which the 
subject is here presented, was better 
calculated to meet the wishes of the 
public than a history more strictly pro- 
fessional. From the wide circulation 
that has been given to the partial 
accounts which have already appeared, 
it is believed that a curiosity to see an 
authentic narrative of all the circum- 
stances connected with this truly re- 
markable case has been excited in many, 



VI PREFACE. 

who would have little relish for a purely 
medical Essay. To furnish such a nar- 
rative, the Lecture, with a particular 
history of her case since the residence 
of the " Somnambulist" in the Luna- 
tic Hospital, obligingly communicated 
by the distinguished gentleman who 
presides over that institution, is submit- 
ted to the public. The introductory 
remarks, though they contain nothing 
original, seemed to be required, to ren- 
der the subject generally intelligible ; 
they consequently have been allowed 
to retain the same place which they 
occupied when the Lecture was de- 
livered. 

Springfield, Feb. 18, 1834. 



Page. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

General Remarks on Somnambulism. — Sleep.- 
Dreaming and Insanity. — Remarks from Dr. 
Abercrombie. — Somnambulism ; most frequent 
in childhood. — Student in Yale College. — Ser- 
vant-girl. — Case mentioned by Dr. Dyce. — 
Young lady mentioned by Maj. Elliott. — Lad 
of Lausanne. --•_-. 9 

CHAPTER II. 

Jane C. Rider. — Early history. — First attack of 
Somnambulism. — Second paroxysm ; her con- 
duct in it. — Loss of memory. — Operations . 
in the dark. — Time of Attack. — General de- 
scription of the paroxysms. — Acuteness of vi- 
sion. — No recollection when awake of her 
conduct in the somnambulist state. — Experi- 
ments proving the extraordinary power of vi- 
sion. — Power of imitation, &c. confined to the 
state of somnambulism. — Removal to Insane 
Hospital at Worcester. — Abstract from the 
Records of the Hospital. — Letter written by 
Jane in one of her paroxysms. — Letters from 
Dr. Woodward. 29 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 



Page 



Impossibility of imposture. — Cases of affection 
of the mental faculties by disease. — Of a person 
whose recollection of a language long forgotten 
was restored. — Similar case mentioned by Dr, 
Prichard. — Woman in Scotland. — Case men- 
tioned by Dr. Rush. — Boy. — Peculiarity of the 
case of Jane C. Rider. Theory of vision. — 
Analogy of Light and Heat. — Case of Caspar 
Hauser. — Theory of Jane's case. — Zerah Col- 
burn. — Connexion of the physical with the 
mental organization. — Extract from a Lecture 
of Dr. "Woodward. 93 

APPENDIX. 

Note A. — Caspar Hauser ; acuteness of his sen- 
sual perceptions. - - - - - -121 

Note B. 126 

Note C. — Zerah Colburn. Examples of his re- 
markable calculations. - - - - 127 

Testimonials from Individuals who saio Miss Rider in 

her paroxysms. 

Letter from Hon. Wm. B.Calhoun. - - 130 

Letter from Rev. Wm. B. O. Peabody. - - ib. 

Letter from Dr. John Stone. - - - 132 

Letter from Rev. Dr. Osgood 133 

Letter from Dr. M. B. Baker. - - 134 



AN ACCOUNT 



JANE C. RIDER 



CHAPTER I. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON SOMNAMBULISM— 
WITH CASES. 

Somnambulism, or sleep walking, forms, 
as it were, the connecting link between 
dreaming and insanity ; and, in order to a 
full understanding of its nature, it will be 
necessary to offer a few remarks relative to 
these two seemingly different, but really 
analogous states. 

Sleep has been denned to be the repose of 
the organs of sense and of voluntary motion. 
The senses cannot long continue to receive 
impressions, or the muscles to contract, 
without fatigue, and the necessity for the 

reparation of those powers which have been 

2 



10 JANE C. RIDER. 

expended during their action. After a pe- 
riod of activity, which cannot be extended 
beyond certain limits, the mind becomes 
insensible to the presence of external things 
— sounds are not heard, odors are not per- 
ceived, heat or cold is not felt — all access 
to the mind through the organs of sense is 
closed — the intellectual operations become 
dull and confused — recollection finally ceas- 
es, and it is supposed that, in perfect sleep, 
there is neither thought nor idea of any 
kind. During this suspension of action in 
the organs of relation, as they are called, or 
those by means of which the mind holds 
communication with outward objects, the 
functions of organic life, such as respiration 
and circulation, those which are necessary 
to mere animal existence, continue. 

Sleep, in the language of poetry, has 
been compared to death : and Dr. Good has 
stated that the resemblance between them 
is not less correct upon the principles of 
physiology, than it is beautiful among the 
images of poetry. " Sleep is the death or 
torpitude of the voluntary organs, while the 



SLEEP. 11 

involuntary continue their accustomed ac- 
tions. Death is the sleep or torpitude of 
the whole." There is also another striking 
difference. During the whole of sleep, a 
process of renovation is probably going on in 
the organs of relation, which adapts them 
for subsequent activity, and contrasts sig- 
nally with the state of annihilation which 
constitutes death. 

On the approach of sleep, all the organs 
are not simultaneously affected. " The 
closure of the eye first shuts out the sight, 
the smell yields after the taste, the hearing 
after the smell, and finally the touch sleeps. 
Sensations of hunger, thirst and pain, are 
no longer noticed. From the first, the in- 
tellectual and moral powers partake of the 
languor which pervades the frame — the will 
relaxes its control — the ideas flit for a time 
in a disorderly manner, constituting a kind 
of delirium — recollection is finally lost, and 
the sleep becomes complete. 55 

The state of complete sleep, or that which 
is characterized by a total suspension of all 
the voluntary powers, and all intellectual 



12 JANE C. RIDER. 

operations, if it occurs at all, does not long 
continue. After a period of repose, of longer 
or shorter duration, some of the organs hav- 
ing been less exhausted, or requiring a 
shorter time for reparation, awake ; sensa- 
tions are obscurely perceived, and visions 
again float across the mind. The sense of 
sight and the voluntary motions are least 
readily roused, so that those functions which 
fall asleep the last, are most readily awaked ; 
and they gradually resume their activity in 
the same order in which they lost it. It is 
in this state of incomplete sleep that dreams 
occur, when the senses are but partially 
awake, and the w r ill is powerless. 

We have the power, when awake, not 
only of perceiving external objects, but of 
recalling former impressions in the absence 
of the objects which originally excited them. 
These impressions may be recalled in the 
same order and connexion in which they at 
first occurred, constituting memory ; or new 
combinations may be formed from the ma- 
terials furnished by the senses — a power 
to which we give the name imagination. 



DREAMING AND INSANITY. 13 

Philosophers suppose that in every act of 
memory or imagination, the scene thus 
represented to the mind is attended with a 
momentary belief of its reality — a belief, 
however, which the senses enable us imme- 
diately to correct. For example, in think- 
ing of a past transaction, we for the moment 
regard it as actually present ; and this im- 
pression remains till reason, by comparing 
the vision with the actual state of things in 
the external world, dispels the belief. There 
are, however, states in which this belief of 
the independent existence of that which is 
only passing in the mind is not corrected 
by the actual relations of external things. 
Of these states, dreaming and insanity con- 
stitute two remarkable examples. In in- 
sanity, the senses are awake and the will 
active ; still, the false impression remains 
and influences the conduct. " The maniac 
fancies himself a king, possessed of boundless 
power, and surrounded by every form of 
earthly splendor ; and, with all his bodily 
senses in perfect exercise, this hallucination 
is in no degree corrected by the sight of his 
2* 



14 JANE C. RIDER. 

bed of straw, and all the horrors of his cell.' 3 
The same belief in the reality of that which 
occupies the mind occurs in dreams ; but 
the will, in this state, having no control 
over the active powers, the conduct is not 
affected, and the vision is dissipated upon 
awaking. 

Dr. Abercrombie remarks that the pecu- 
liar condition of the mind in dreaming, ap- 
pears to be referable to two heads : 

I. " The impressions which arise in the 
mind are believed to have a real and present 
existence ; and this belief is not corrected, 
as in the waking state, by comparing the 
conception with the things of the external 
world. II. The ideas or images in the 
mind follow one another according to asso- 
ciations over which we have no control ; 
we cannot, as in the waking state, vary the 
series, or stop it at our will." 

Somnambulism partakes of the character 
both of dreaming and insanity. The mind, 
as in dreaming, is fixed on its own impres- 
sions, which, it supposes, have a real and 
present existence — a delusion which is tern- 



SOMNAMBULISM. 15 

porary, and is dispelled on waking — but, as 
in insanity, the will excites the organs of 
voluntary motion, so that the person acts 
under the influence of his conceptions. The 
somnambulist is also, to a ceitain extent, 
sensible of the presence of external things ; 
but the ideas received through the organs 
of sense do not correct the erroneous con- 
ceptions, but rather intermingle with and 
confirm them. Somnambulism, therefore, 
is a state of imperfect sleep, in which the 
mind, sensible, to some extent, of the pre- 
sence of external things, still believes in the 
reality of the visions by which it is occupied, 
and acts under the influence of this belief. 

This state occurs most frequently in 
childhood, and is often connected with 
frightful dreams. Soon after going to bed, 
before the period of sound repose, dreadful 
visions haunt the mind. The individual 
imagines himself in some danger from which 
he attempts to escape — his first efforts are 
unsuccessful, because the limbs do not obey 
the will — at length the will regains its 
power, and the dreamer, trembling with 
apprehension, rises, and often ca Is few help. 



16 JANE C. RIDER. 

Some time generally elapses before the false 
impression vanishes, and the mind becomes 
sensible to surrounding objects. Precisely 
of the same nature are those dreams from 
which adults awake in terror, the heart 
palpitating violently, and the whole system 
in a state of agitation ; but the organs of 
motion in them being less easily excited by 
the will, they wake in the struggle. It is 
under the influence of dreams of a different 
kind, that some persons talk in their sleep, 
the will acting in correspondence with the 
thoughts which occupy the mind. The 
only difference between dreaming and sleep 
talking is, that in one case the organs of 
speech obey the will, and in the other they 
do not. 

The next variety occurs in those indi- 
viduals, who, under the influence of dreams, 
rise from bed, walk about the house, finding 
their way without difficulty and avoiding 
obstacles, engage in various employments, 
and finally return to bed. These transac- 
tions are afterwards remembered only as a 
dream. The case of a young nobleman is 



STUDENT IN YALE COLLEGE. 17 

mentioned, " Who was observed by his 
brother to rise in his sleep, wrap himself in 
his cloak, and escape by his window to the 
roof of the building. He there tore in pieces 
a magpie's nest, wrapped the young birds 
in his cloak, returned to his apartment and 
went to bed. In the morning he mentioned 
the circumstance as having occurred in a 
dream, and could not be persuaded that 
there had been any thing more than a 
dream, till he was shown the magpies in 
his cloak." The most remarkable example 
of this kind with which I have been per- 
sonally acquainted, was that of a young 
gentleman in Yale College, who rose in 
his sleep, jumped from a window in the 
third story of the college buildings, breaking 
several panes of glass in his fall, and ran 
some rods before he awoke. The account 
which he gave of the occurrence was, that 
he dreamed he was in the hall stealing 
pies ; and finding there was no other way 
to avoid detection, he escaped through the 
window, and ran, as he imagined, towards 



18 JANE C. RIDER. 

his room. He received only a slight injury 
from the fall. 

So far, the philosophy of somnambulism 
appears perfectly intelligible, and we find 
little difficulty in accounting for the phe- 
nomena which this class of cases presents. 
But there are other cases, which, while 
they retain so many points of resemblance 
to the preceding as to be included under the 
same name, still differ from them in many 
important particulars. Some of these pre- 
sent symptoms of a very extraordinary 
nature. While there is the same belief in 
the reality of the scenes which occupy the 
mind, united with at least a partial insensi- 
bility to external impressions, which exists 
in ordinary somnambulism, there is a state 
of the intellectual powers analogous to that 
which is occasionally witnessed in insanity, 
or as the effect of injury to the brain, at- 
tended in some instances, with increased 
sensibility in one or more of the organs of 
sense. It occurs also, most generally, in 
the form of a fit, or paroxysm, at any hour 
during the day, is preceded by certain pre- 



SERVANT-GIRL. 19 

monitory symptoms, and is invariably con- 
nected with disorder in some of the bodily 
functions. There is an entire interruption 
of consciousness, the individual, on waking, 
retaining no recollection of what transpired 
in the paroxysm, though, in some instances, 
the knowledge is restored in a subsequent 
paroxysm. 

Several examples of this affection are 
given by medical writers, some of which I 
will relate. — " An ignorant servant-girl, 
mentioned by Dr. Dewar," observes Dr. 
Abercrombie, "during paroxysms of this 
kind, showed an astonishing knowledge of 
geography and astronomy, and expressed 
herself in her own language in a manner 
which, though often ridiculous, shewed an 
understanding of the subject. The alterna- 
tions of the seasons, for example, she ex- 
plained by saying that the earth was set 
a-gee. It was afterwards discovered that 
her notions on these subjects had been de- 
rived from overhearing a tutor giving in- 
structions to the young people of the fam- 
ily." 



20 JANE C. RIDER. 

Another case, in many of its features very 
similar to the one which has recently oc- 
curred in this town, is described by Dr. Dyce 
of Aberdeen. " The patient was a servant- 
girl, and the affection began with fits of 
somnolency, which came upon her suddenly 
during the day, and from which she could, 
at first, be roused by shaking, or by being 
taken out into the open air. She soon be- 
gan to talk a great deal, during the attacks, 
regarding things which seemed to be pass- 
ing before her as a dream ; and she was 
not at this time sensible to any thing which 
was said to her. On one occasion she re- 
peated distinctly the baptismal service of 
the church of England, and concluded with 
an extemporary prayer. In her subsequent 
paroxysms she began to understand what 
was said to her, and to answer with a con- 
siderable degree of consistency, though the 
answers were generally, to a certain degree, 
influenced by her hallucinations. She also 
became capable of following her usual em- 
ployments during the paroxysm : at one 
time she laid out the table correctly for 



CASE OF SOMNAMBULISM. 21 

breakfast; and repeatedly dressed her- 
self and the children of the family, her eyes 
remaining shut the whole time. The remarka- 
able circumstance was now discovered that 
during the paroxysm she had a distinct 
recollection of what took place in former 
paroxysms, though she had no remembrance 
of it during the intervals. At one time she 
was taken to church while under the attack, 
and there behaved with propriety, evidently 
attending to the preacher ; and she was at 
one time so much affected as to shed tears. 
In the interval she had no recollection of 
having been at church ; but in the next 
paroxysm she gave a most distinct account 
of the sermon, and mentioned that part of it 
by which she had been so much affected. 

" This woman described the paroxysm as 
coming on with a cloudiness before her 
eyes, and a noise in the head. During the 
attack the eyelids were generally half shut ; 
her eyes sometimes resembled those of a 
person affected with amaurosis, that is, with 
a dilated and insensible state of the pupil, 
but sometimes they were quite natural. — 
3 



22 JANE C. RIDER. 

She had a dull, vacant look; but, when 
excited, knew what was said to her, though 
she often mistook the person who was 
speaking ; and it was observed, that she 
seemed to discern objects best which were 
faintly illuminated. The paroxysms gene- 
rally continued about an hour, but she could 
often be roused out of them ; she then 
yawned and stretched herself, like a person 
awaking out of sleep, and instantly knew 
those about her. At one time, during the 
attack, she read distinctly a portion of a 
book which was presented to her ; ahd she 
often sung, both sacred and common pieces, 
incomparably better, Dr. Dyce affirms, than 
she could do in the waking state. The 
affection continued to recur for about six 
months." 

A most remarkable example of interrupt- 
ed consciousness is related by Major Elliot* 
Professor of Mathematics in the U. S. Mili- 
tary Academy at West Point. "The patient 
was a young lady of cultivated mind, and 
the affection began with an attack of som- 
nolency, which was protracted several hours 



CASE BY MAJOR ELLIOT. 23 

beyond the usual time. When she came 
out of it, she was found to have lost every 
kind of acquired knowledge. She imme- 
diately began to apply herself to the first 
elements of education, and was making 
considerable progress, when, after several 
months, she was seized with a second fit of 
somnolency. She was now at once restored 
to all the knowledge which she possessed 
before the first attack, but without the least 
recollection of any thing that had taken 
place during the interval. After another 
interval she had a third attack of somno- 
lency, which left her in the same state as 
after the first. In this manner she suffered 
these alternate conditions for a period of four 
years, with the very remarkable circum- 
stance that during one state she retained all 
her original knowledge ; bat during the 
other, that only which she had acquired 
since the first attack. During the healthy 
interval, for example, she was remarkable 
for the beauty of her penmanship ; but 
during the paroxysm wrote a poor, awkward 
hand. Peisons introduced to her during the 



24 JANE C. RIDER. 

paroxysm she recognised only in a subse- 
quent paroxysm, and not in the interval ; 
and persons whom she had seen for the 
first time during the healthy interval, she 
did not recognise during the attack. 55 

The only remaining case to which I shall 
at present refer, is one furnished by the re- 
port of a select committee to the Physical 
Society of Lausanne. This relates to a lad, 
in the fourteenth year of his age, residing 
in Vevay, who was subject to somnambu- 
lism. The fits lasted several hours, and 
generally occurred two nights successively, 
after which there was an interval, sometimes 
of several weeks. They were preceded by 
heaviness in the head and a sense of weight 
in the eyelids, and their departure was an- 
nounced by a few minutes of quiet sleep, 
during which he snored. He then awoke, 
rubbing his eyes like a person who has slept 
quietly. During the paroxysms he talked, 
sometimes sat up, and was subject to con- 
tinued involuntary motions. When he 
awoke he could not recollect what he had 
been doing during the fit. 



CASE IN LAUSANNE. 25 

From the facts which they observed, the 
committee infer, " that the power of vision is 
not suspended as to those objects which the 
sleep-walker wishes to see ; that in order to 
see, he is obliged to open the eyes as much 
as he can, but when the impression is once 
made, it remains : that objects may strike 
the sight without striking the imagination, 
if it is not interested in them ; and that he 
is sometimes informed of the presence of 
objects without either seeing or touching 
them. On one occasion, as he was writing, 
a thick paper was put before his eyes, not- 
withstanding which he continued to write, 
and to form letters very distinctly ; showing 
signs, however, that something incommoded 
him, which apparently proceeded from the 
obstruction which the paper, being held too 
near his nose, gave to the respiration. At 
another time, having written several lines 
from a copy, he perceived that in one word 
he had omitted a letter, and in another had 
inserted a superfluous one ; he then stopped 
writing to make the necessary corrections." 

The fact that this lad could write with 
3* 



26 JANE C. RIDER. 

his eyes shut and an obstacle before them, 
the committee account for in the following 
manner. " His paper," say they, "is imprint- 
ed on his imagination, and every letter he 
means to write is also painted there, at the 
place at which it ought to stand on the 
paper, and without being confounded with 
the other letters. Now it is clear that the 
hand, which is obedient to the will of the 
imagination, will trace them on the real 
paper, in the same order in which they 
are represented on that which is pictured 
jn the mind. It is thus that he is able to 
write several letters, several sentences, and 
entire pieces." — An experiment mentioned 
afterwards gives some appearance of proba- 
bility to this conclusion. The lad had a 
light beside him and had certified himself of 
the place where his inkstand was standing 
by means of sight. From that time he con- 
tinued to take ink with precision, without 
being obliged to open his eyes again ; but 
the inkstand being removed he returned as 
usual to the place where he thought it was. 
It must be observed that the motion of the 



LAD OF LAUSANNE. 27 

hand was rapid till it reached the height of 
the inkstand, and then he moved it slowly, 
till the pen gently touched the table as he 
was seeking for the ink ; he then perceived 
that a trick was put upon him, and com- 
plained of it ; he went in search of the ink- 
stand, and put it into its place. This ex- 
periment was several times times repeated, 
and always attended with the same circum- 
stances. 



29 



CHAPTER II. 

ACCOUNT OF JANE C. RIDER. 

Sect. I. First period, in which the attacks were confined 
to the night season. 

None of the cases to which I have alluded 
in the preceding chapter, and they are the 
most remarkable that I can find recorded, 
appear so extraordinary as the one which 
has recently occurred in this town, the phe- 
nomena of which have been witnessed by 
hundreds. The incredulity, also, with which 
the accounts respecting this case have been 
received by the public, and even by scien- 
tific men, shows that, if it is not wholly 
unexampled, similar instances must be ex- 
ceedingly rare. While it equals the most 
wonderful of the preceding examples in the 
vast increase of some of the mental facul- 
ties, it far exceeds them all in respect to the 
power of vision. 






30 JANE C. RIDER. 

Jane C. Rider, the subject of the following 
history, is a native of Vermont, and in the 
17th year of her age. Her father, a very 
ingenious and respectable mechanic, resides 
in Brattleborough. With him, and with 
the friends of her mother, whose sudden 
death from disease of the brain rendered her 
an orphan in early infancy, she lived till 
last April. At that time she removed to 
Springfield, and became an inmate of the 
family of Mr. Festus Stebbins ; where her 
intelligence and uniformly mild and obliging 
disposition soon secured the confidence and 
love of all with whom she was connected. 
Her education is superior to that which is 
usually acquired by those occupying the 
middle rank in society. She is fond of 
reading, and especially delights in poetry, 
her selections of which generally evince a 
chaste and correct taste. Though of a full 
habit, her appearance is prepossessing, and 
her plump and rosy cheeks, by the unpro- 
fessional observer at least, would be regard- 
ed as the index of perfect health. She, 
however, has always been subject to fre- 



EARLY HISTORY. SI 

quent headachy and other symptoms arising 
from an undue determination of blood to 
the head ; and about three years since was, 
for several months, affected with Chorea. 
A small spot on the left side of the head, 
near the region which prhenologists assign 
to the organ of "marvellousness," has, since 
her earliest recollection, been tender, or pain- 
ful on pressure, and the sensibility is much 
increased when she suffers from headach. 
During the paroxysms to which she has 
lately been subject, this spot, at all times 
painful, is frequently the seat of such intense 
agony as to induce her to exclaim, " It 
ought to be cut open — it ought to be cut 
open." Her eyes are so sensible to the 
light, that she invariably suffers when she 
goes abroad in a clear day without a veil. 
From her infancy she has been in the habit 
of sleeping more soundly, and a greater 
number of hours, than is usual. She is 
seldom conscious of dreaming, and rarely 
wakes of her own accord in the morning. 
In her childhood she was in the habit of 
occasionally rising in her sleep, but did not 



32 JANE C. RIDER. 

manifest any of the peculiar powers on 
those occasions which have since rendered 
her case so remarkable. 

I have given this sketch of her early his- 
tory to show that there is nothing in her 
character or in that of those connected with 
her, to give the slightest occasion for the 
suspicion that she is an impostor. — Her ap- 
prehension respecting the probable termina- 
tion of her malady was such, that after a 
paroxysm of unusual length it was deemed 
advisable not to inform her of its actual du- 
ration ; when, however, the truth was acci- 
dentally revealed to her, she burst into tears. 
I do not believe it possible for any one to 
watch her during a paroxysm, and witness 
the artlessness and consistency of her con- 
duct, the unequivocal signs of extreme suf- 
fering which she occasionally manifests, 
and above all to observe the symptoms of 
returning consciousness, without the fullest 
assurance that there is in this nothing 
feigned. In fact, after visiting her, all, I 
believe, without a single exception, have 
come away with the conviction that there 



FIRST ATTACK. 33 

can be no such thing as imposture. If there 
be a mistake, it is in us — in the conclusions 
which we draw from our observations — in 
her I am satisfied there is no intentional 
deception. 

The singular affection of which she has 
lately been the subject, made its first ap- 
pearance on the night of the 24th of June. 
I was called, under the impression that she 
was deranged, and such at first was my 
own belief. She was struggling to get out 
of bed, complaining very much at the same 
time of pain in the left side of the head. 
Her face was flushed, the head hot, eyes 
closed, and her pulse much excited. At- 
tributing the attack to the presence of undi- 
gested food in the stomach, I gave her an 
active emetic, which she took voluntarily, 
supposing me to be her father. She reject- 
ed a large quantity of green currants, after 
which she became more quiet, and soon fell 
into a natural sleep, from which she did not 
wake till morning ; when she w as totally 
unconscious of every thing which had passed 
in the night, and could scarcely be persuaded 



34 JANE C. RIDER. 

that she had not slept quietly during the 
whole time. 

Nearly a month elapsed before another 
paroxysm. Then, after several attempts to 
keep her in bed, it was determined to suffer 
her to take her own course, and watch her 
movements. Having dressed herself, she 
went down stairs, and proceeded to make 
preparations for breakfast. She set the 
table, arranged the various articles with the 
utmost precision, went into a dark room 
and to a closet at the most remote corner, 
from which she took the coffee cups, placed 
them on a waiter, turned it sideways to 
pass through the doors, avoided all inter- 
vening obstacles, and deposited the whole 
safely on the table. 

She then went into the pantry, the blinds 
of which were shut, and the door closed 
after her. She there skimmed the milk, 
poured the cream into one cup and the milk 
into another without spilling a drop. She 
then cut the bread, placed it regularly 
on the plate, and divided the slices in the 
middle. In fine, she went through the 



SECOND PAROXYSM. 35 

whole operation of preparing breakfast with 
as much precision as she could in open 
day ; and this with her eyes closed, and 
without any light except that of one lamp 
which was standing in the breakfast room 
to enable the family to observe her opera- 
tions. During the whole time, she seemed 
to take no notice of those around her, unless 
they purposely stood in her way, or placed 
chairs or other obstacles before her, when 
she avoided them, with an expression of 
impatience at being thus disturbed. 

She finally returned voluntarily to bed, 
and on finding the table arranged for break- 
fast when she made her appearance in the 
morning, inquired why she had been suffer- 
ed to sleep, while another had performed 
her duty. None of the transactions of the 
preceding night had left the slightest im- 
pression on her mind — a sense of fatigue 
the following day being the only evidence 
furnished by her consciousness in confirma- 
tion of the testimony of those who saw her. 

After this the paroxysms became more 
frequent, a week seldom passing without 



36 JANE C. RIDER. 

her getting up two or three times. Some- 
times she did not leave her room, but was 
occupied in looking over the contents of her 
trunk, and arranging the different articles 
of dress. She occasionally placed things 
where she could not find them when awake, 
but some circumstances induced the belief 
that the knowledge of their situation was 
restored to her in a subsequent paroxysm. 
In one instance she disposed of her needle- 
book where she could not afterwards dis- 
cover it ; but after some time had elapsed, 
she was found one night in her chamber, 
sewing a ring on the curtain with a needle 
which she must have procured from the lost 
book. 

The entire paroxysm was sometimes 
passed in bed, where she sung, talked, 
and repeated passages of poetry. Once 
she imagined herself at Brattleborough, 
spoke of scenes and persons with which she 
was acquainted there, and described the 
characters of certain individuals with great 
accuracy and shrewdness, and imitated their 
actions so exactly as to produce a most 



LOSS OP MEMORY, 37 

comical effect. At this time she denied 
ever having been at Springfield, nor could 
she be made to recollect a single individual 
with whom she was acquainted here, except 
one or two whom she had known in Brat- 
tleborough. Even the name of the people 
with whom she lived seemed unfamiliar 
and strange to her. 

Generally her conceptions relative to 
place were, to a certain extent, correct — 
those relating to time were very commonly 
inaccurate. She almost invariably supposed 
it was day ; hence her common reply when 
reminded that it was time for her to retire, 
was, " What ! go to bed in the day time V 9 
And when I say her notions relative to place 
were in accordance with fact, the statement 
requires considerable limitation. She very 
frequently imagined herself in a different 
room from the one where she actually was, 
and almost always in the room which she 
usually occupied when awake. 

Still her movements were always regulated 
by the senses, and not by her preconceived 

notions of things. Her chamber was con- 

4* 



38 JANE C. RIDER. 

tiguous to a hall, at one extremity of which 
was the staircase. At the head of the stairs 
was a door which was usually left open, but 
which was once closed after she was asleep, 
and fastened by placing the blade of a knife 
over the latch. On getting up, she rushed 
impetuously from her room, and without 
stopping, reached out her hand before she 
came to the door, seized the knife, and 
throwing it indignantly on the floor, ex- 
claimed, " Why do you w r ish to fasten me 
in?" 

Without entering into minute detail, I 
will only mention some of the most remark- 
able circumstances which occurred at this 
early period of the complaint. 

Allusion has been made to her sewing in 
the dark, and circumstances render it al- 
most certain that she must at that time have 
threaded her needle also. Sometime after 
this occurrence she conceived the plan, dur- 
ing a paroxysm, of making a bag, in which, 
as she said, to boil some squash. She was 
then seen to thread a needle in a room in 
which there was barely light enough to 



OPERATIONS IN THE DARK. 39 

enable others to perceive what she was 
about, and afterwards, the same night, she 
was seen to do it with her eyes closed. 
In this condition she completed the bag, 
and though a little puckered, as she ob- 
served, it still answered very well to boil 
the squash in. 

In one instance she not only arranged 
the table for a meal, but actually prepared 
a dinner in the night, with her eyes closed- 
She first went into the cellar in the dark, 
procured the vegetables, washed each kind 
separately, brought in the wood and made 
a fire. While they were being boiled, she 
completed the arrangements of the table, 
and then proceeded to try the vegetables to 
ascertain whether they were sufficiently 
cooked. After repeated trials, she observ- 
ed the smallest of them were done — she 
took them up, and after waiting a little, 
said the rest would do, and took them up 
also. They were actually very well cooked. 
She then remarked that S., a little girl 
in the family, ate milk, and procured a 
bowl for her — she also procured one for her- 



40 JANE C. RIDER. 

self and ate it. As the family did not seat 
themselves at table, she became impatient, 
and complained that the men never were 
ready for their dinner. While engaged in 
her preparations, she observed a lamp burn- 
ing in the room, and extinguished it, saying 
" she did not know why people wished to 
keep a lamp burning in the day time." On 
being requested to go to bed, she objected, 
alleging as a reason, that it was day ; but 
was persuaded to do so by being reminded 
that she was not well, and that sleep would 
relieve her head. In the morning she ap- 
peared as usual, totally unconscious of the 
transactions of the preceding night. 

At first, the paroxysms occurred only in 
the night, and generally soon after she 
went to bed. As the disease advanced, 
they commenced earlier — she then fell 
asleep in the evening, sitting in her 
chair — or rather passed into the state of 
somnambulism ; for her sleep, under these 
circumstances, was never natural. At a 
still later period, the attack took place at 
any hour during the day or evening. Af- 



DESCRIPTION OF PAROXYSM. 41 

ter she began to be affected in the day time, 
the fit seldom'commenced when she was in 
bed ; and even when she retired, as she 
often did, in this state, she usually remained 
quiet till the /paroxysm subsided— though 
at times she continued to talk and sing. 
Sometimes she suffered two distinct parox- 
ysms in one day. 



Sect. II. General description of the Paroxysm, 

The follwing description of the paroxysms has refe- 
rence only to that period of the disease in which the 
extraordinary acuteness of vision was manifested — after 
this was lost, most of the other symptoms were less 
marked, and many of them disappeared entirely. 

The state of somnambulism was usually 
preceded by a full, heavy, unpleasant feel- 
ing in the head — sometimes by headach, 
ringing in the ears, cold extremities, and an 
irresistible propensity to drows iness, attend- 
ed with a feeling as if weights were ap- 
pended to the eye-lids. There was almost 
always a slight contraction of the eye-brows, 
the^cheeks were flushed, and sometimes 



42 JANE C. RIDER, 

tinged with a crimson hue. By great exer- 
tions, the fit might be put off for hours after 
the appearance of these symptoms ; but, in 
order to gain this reprieve, it was necessary 
for her to Walk, or be engaged in some ac- 
tive employment. The most effectual pre- 
ventive was exposure to the open air. The 
moment these precautions were relaxed, 
and sometimes even in the midst of her 
active duties, she experienced what she de- 
scribed as a sense of rushing to the head, 
attended with a loss of the power of speech 
and motion. If in this state she was imme- 
diately carried into the open air, the fit was 
often arrested ; but if this was delayed a 
moment too long, she lost all recollection, 
and could not by any efforts be aroused. 
To a spectator she appeared like a person 
going quietly to sleep. Her eyes were clos- 
ed, the respirations became long and deep, 
her attitude, and the motions of her head, 
resembled those of a person in a profound 
slumber. During the fit, the breathing, 
though sometimes natural, was often hurri- 
ed, and attended with a peculiar moaning 



DESCRIPTION OF PAROXYSM. 43 

sound, indicative of suffering. At times 
the pulse was accelerated, but generally it 
did not vary much from the natural stan- 
dard. I have remarked, that in her first pa- 
roxysm the head was hot, but such was not 
commonly the case, nor was there any pe- 
culiar throbbing of the temporal arteries — 
the hands and feet, however, were almost 
invariably cold. 

Her manner differed exceedingly in differ- 
ent paroxysms. Sometimes she engaged in 
her usual occupations, and then her motions 
were remarkably quick and impetuous — she 
moved with astonishing rapidity, and ac- 
complished whatever she attempted with a 
celerity of which she is utterly incapable in 
hex natural state. She frequently sat in a rock- 
ing-chair, at times nodding, and then moving 
her head from side to side with a kind of 
nervous uneasiness, the hand and fingers 
being at the same time affected with a sort 
of involuntary motion. In the intervals of 
reading or talking, and even when engaged 
in these very acts, her nods, the expressions 
of her countenance, and her apparent in- 



44 JANE C. RIDER. 

sensibility to surrounding objects, forced vipon 
the mind the conviction that she was asleep. 
Occasionally she was cheerful, disposed to 
talk, and willing to exercise her powers ; 
the greater part of the time she was irritable 
and petulant. Pain in a circumscribed spot 
on the left side of the head was, I believe, 
always an attendant on the paroxysm, and 
frequently occasioned a degree of suffering 
almost beyond endurance. To this spot 
she invariably pointed as the seat of her ag- 
ony when she repeated the expression, "it 
ought to be cut open, it ought to be cut 
open." Occasionally the whole system 
was thrown into agitation, and she present- 
ed the appearance of a person in a violent 
fit of hysterics. 

Her eyes were generally closed, but at 
times they were stretched widely open, and 
the pupil was then very considerably dilated. 
These different states of the eye seemed to 
occasion no difference in the power of seeing 
— she saw apparently as well when they 
were closed, as she did when they w^ere 
open. In the day time she always had the 



ACUTENE5S OF VISION. 45 

eyes covered with a bandage during the 
paroxysm, nor would she allow it to be re- 
moved for a single moment, unless the room 
was unusually dark. In order to test the 
sensibility of the eye, I took one evening a 
small concave mirror, and held it so that the 
rays proceeding from a lamp were reflected 
upon her closed eyelid. When the light was 
so diffused that the outline of the illuminated 
space could scarcely be distinguished, it 
caused, the moment it fell on the eyelid, a 
shock equal to that produced by an electric 
battery, followed by the exclamation, " why 
do you wish to shoot me in the eyes T 9 
This experiment was repeated several times, 
and was always attended with the same 
result. It was also tried when she was 
awake, and the effect, though less striking, 
was very perceptible. The same degree of 
light thrown on my eyelids, occasioned no 
pain. 

How far she was sensible to the presence 

of surrounding objects, it is very difficult to 

determine ; indeed, facts seem to prove that 

she was not, in every paroxysm, alike in 

5 



46 JANE C. RIDER. 

this respect. In the early stage of her 
complaint, she appeared to take little notice 
of persons, unless they were connected with 
her train of thought, and then she regard- 
ed those with her only as the representa- 
tives of the persons whom she imagined to 
be present. Nor did the sight or the hear- 
ing have any tendency to correct the false 
impression. Thus, in her first paroxysm, 
she regarded me as her father, and continu- 
ed to do so as long as I remained with her ; 
but, in her subsequent fits, this idea was 
never revived. Her conception of persons 
was generally made to correspond with the 
idea of the place in which she conceived 
herself to be. She was in the habit, when 
well, of spending her evenings in the room 
with the children of the family, and it was 
in their company that she often imagined 
herself to be during the paroxysm. The 
questions which were at these times propos- 
ed to her to test her powers of vision, were 
cheerfully and readily answered, because 
they were questions which it was natural 
for children to ask ; or, at least, she supposed 



CONDUCT DURING PAROXYSMS. 47 

them to proceed from children. Much that 
she said was also directed to them, though 
it was evident, at times, her conceptions 
and perceptions were strangely intermin- 
gled. In a paroxysm, soon after the arri- 
val of her father, he asked her a question 
which she answered by addressing a little 
boy belonging to the family, who was not 
then in the room ; but his knife which he 
placed in her hand, she immediately recog- 
nized as her father's, and wondered how 
that came to be in Springfield while he was 
in Brattleborough. At a later period of her 
complaint, she appeared to comprehend 
more of what transpired in her presence, 
and accordingly she obstinately refused to 
read cards, or submit to experiments of any 
kind. These trials she then evidently re- 
garded as so many attempts to impose upon 
her ; and in adopting this conclusion she 
reasoned with perfect consistency ; for if 
she actually could see as she appeared to — 
if to her vision, night was converted into 
day, and darkness into light, w r hile she was 
unconscious of any thing peculiar to her- 



48 JANE C. RIDER. 

self, what could be more annoying than to 
be constantly teased with questions which 
to her senses were 'perfectly obvious ? If a 
request were made of her which appeared 
reasonable, especially if it related to her 
customary duties, she readily did whatever 
was required. 

There is abundant evidence that she re- 
collected, during a paroxysm, circumstan- 
ces which occurred in a former attack, 
though there was no remembrance of them 
in the interval. A single illustration will 
suffice, though many more might be given. 
In a paroxysm, a lady who was present 
placed in her hand a bead bag which she 
had never before seen. She examined it, 
named the colors, and compared them with 
those of a bag belonging to a lady in the 
family. The latter bag being presented to 
her in a subsequent paroxysm, the recol- 
lection of the former was restored — she told 
the colors of the beads, and made the same 
remarks respecting the comparative value 
of the two bags that she had done before. 
I had taken measures to satisfy myself 



PAROXYSMS. 49 

in the interval that she then remembered 
nothing of the first impression. 

Attempts to rouse her from this state 
were uniformly unsuccessful. She heard, 
felt, and saw ; but the impressions which 
she received through the senses had no 
tendency to waken her. A pailful of cold 
water was in one instance thrown upon 
her ; she exclaimed, " Why do you wish to 
drown me !" — went to her chamber, chang- 
ed her dress, and came down again. Large 
doses of laudanum were sometimes given 
her with a view to relieve her pain — it ap- 
peared to mitigate her sufferings, and she 
was observed uniformly to wake soon after- 
wards. Excitements of every kind, and 
particularly attempts to draw forth her 
peculiar powers, invariably prolonged the 
fits, and generally aggravated the pain in 
the head. 

At the termination of a paroxysm, she 
sunk into a profound sleep. The frown 
disappeared from her brow, the respirations 
again became long and deep, and the atti- 
tude was that of a person in undisturbed 
slumber. She soon began to gape and rub 
5* 



50 JANE C. RIDER. 

her eyes, and these motions were repeated 
after short intervals of repose. In the 
course of fifteen or twenty minutes from 
the first appearance of these symptoms, she 
opened her eyes, when recollection was at 
once restored. She then invariably revert- 
ed to the time and place at which the 
attack commenced, and in no instance, 
when under my care, manifested any know- 
ledge of the time which had elapsed, or the 
circumstances which transpired during the 
interval. 

These paroxysms were very obviously 
connected with the state of the stomach 
and digestive organs. Though the appetite 
was generally good, food often occasioned 
oppression, and she not unfrequently raised 
a considerable portion of what she ate. She 
also had headach, acidity of stomach, and 
most of the symptoms usually termed dys- 
peptic. These circumstances had not in- 
deed attracted much attention till after the 
occurrence of the paroxysms ; but I then 
found that they had existed, in a slight 
degree, for some time, and that lately her 
sufferings from this source had been very 



CAUSE OP AN ATTACK. 51 

considerably aggravated. Improper food, 
and other causes affecting the stomach di- 
rectly, I am confident, in several instances, 
occasioned an attack. The very first pa- 
roxysm occurred a few hours after she had 
eaten a large quantity of green currants ; 
and two or three times afterwards, a parox- 
ysm was occasioned by medicine w r hich 
disturbed the stomach. 

During the fit she very often called for 
food, particularly for apples ; but she sel- 
dom awoke as soon as usual, after having 
gratified her appetite. At a time when she 
had invariably one or two paroxysms daily, 
I gave her an emetic, and afterwards allow- 
ed her to take but a small quantity of the 
simplest food ; under this course she had 
but one slight attack for five days, and she 
was in every respect much better. The 
paroxysm which she had in this instance 
occurred also under circumstances illustra- 
tive of the nature of the complaint. It 
came on in the stage, when she was on the 
way to Worcester, and was preceded by 
sickness, to which she is very subject when 
riding in a close carriage. 



52 JANE C. RIDER. 

Sect. III. — Experiments proving the extraordinary power 
of vision. 

Though no decisive experiments were at 
first made to establish the fact, the mem- 
bers of the family in which she lived were 
very early convinced that she saw both 
when her eyes were closed, and in the dark. 
They were irresistibly led to this conclusion, 
when they saw her, night after night, per- 
form that which seemed impossible for her 
to do without the aid of vision, when at the 
same time they could discover nothing 
which indicated the want of sight. She 
never betrayed any thing like hesitancy or 
indecision — there was no groping, no feeling 
after the object which she wished to lay 
hold of, but the motion was quick and 
direct, as if perfectly aware of its precise 
situation. When obstacles were placed in 
her way, or the position of a thing was 
changed, she always observed it, and ac- 
commodated herself to the change. This 
kind of evidence, though perfectly satisfac- 
tory to eye witnesses, is not so well calcu- 



POWERS OF VISION. 53 

lated to produce conviction in the minds of 
others as tests of a different kind. 

No direct trial of her powers of vision 
was made until Sabbath evening, Nov. 
10th ; when it was proposed to ascertain 
whether she could read with her eyes 
closed. She was seated in a corner of the 
room, the lights were placed at a distance 
from her, and so screened as to leave her 
in almost entire darkness. In this situation 
she read with ease a great number of cards 
which were presented to her, some of which 
were written with a pencil, and so obscure- 
ly, that in a faint light no trace could be 
discerned by common eyes. She told the 
date of coins, even when the figures were 
nearly obliterated. A visitor handed her a 
letter, with the request that she would read 
the motto on the seal, which she readily 
did, although several persons present had 
been unable to decipher it with the aid of a 
lamp. The whole of this time the eyes 
were, to all appearance, perfectly closed. 

The second day after this exhibition of 
her power, she fell asleep in the morning 



54 JANE C. RIDER. 

in the act of procuring water from the 
pump. This was her first attack in the day 
time. Soon after, on going out of doors, 
she observed to her companion, " what a 
beautiful day it is, how bright the sun 
shines !" It w T as in fact quite cloudy. 
When asked by one of the ladies of the 
family to thread a needle, she refused, say- 
ing, " you can do it for yourself." Soon af- 
ter, she went into a neighboring house, 
where there was an elderly lady to whom 
she often rendered this kind of assistance. 
This lady said, " Jane, I am old, and cannot 
see very well, will you thread my needle for 
me V* She immediately complied with the 
request, and threaded the needle not only 
at that time, but once or twice afterwards. 
She awoke from this paroxysm in the after- 
noon, and was quite distressed to find the 
fits beginning to affect her in the day- 
time. 

The next morning she fell asleep while I 
was prescribing for her, and her case having 
now excited considerable interest, she was 
visited during that and the following day 



ACUTE VISION EXPERIMENT. 55 

by probably more than a hundred people. 
To this circumstance, undoubtedly, is to be 
attributed the unprecedented length cf the 
paroxysm : for she did not wake till Friday 
morning, forty-eight hours after the attack. 
During this time she read a great variety of 
cards written and presented to her by differ- 
ent individuals, told the time by watches, 
and wrote short sentences. 

For greater security, a second handker- 
chief was sometimes placed below the one 
which she wore constantly over her eyes, 
but apparently without causing any ob- 
struction to the vision. She also repeated 
with great propriety and distinctness several 
pieces of poetry, some of which she had 
learned in childhood, but had forgotten, and 
others which she had merely read several 
years since without having ever committed 
them to memory. In addition to this she 
sung several songs, such as " Auld Lang 
Syne" and " Bruce's Address to his Army," 
with propriety and correctness. Yet she 
never learned to sing, and never has been 
known to sing a tune when aw T ake. She 
was evidently very much exhausted by these 



56 JANE C. RIDER. 

efforts, and at times her sufferings were so 
extreme that she could not be induced to 
answer any questions. 

On Wednesday, Nov. 20th, I took a large 
black silk handkerchief, placed between the 
folds two pieces of cotton batting, and ap- 
plied it in such a way that the cotton came 
directly over the eyes, and completely filled 
the cavity on each side of the nose— the 
silk was distinctly seen to be in close contact 
with the skin. Various names were then 
written on cards, both of persons with whom 
she was acquainted, and of those who were 
unknown to her, which she read as soon as 
they were presented to her. This was done 
by most of the persons in the room. In 
reading she always held the paper the right 
side up, and brought it into the line of 
vision. The cards were generally placed 
in her hand for the purpose of attracting her 
notice, but when her attention was excited 
she read equally well that which was held 
before her by another. I do not know that 
she ever read cards which she had never seen, 
when only the back was presented to her. 

Being desirous, if possible, to prove that 



EXPERIMENTS, WITH BANDAGED EYES. 57 

the eye was actually closed, I took two 
large w T ads of cotton, and placed them di- 
rectly on the closed eyelid, and then bound 
them on with the handkerchief before used. 
The cotton filled the cavity under the 
eyebrow, came down to the middle of the 
cheek, and was in close contact with the 
nose. The former experiments were then 
repeated without any difference in the re- 
sult. She also took a pencil, and, w T hile 
rocking in her chair, wrote her own name, 
each word separately, and dotted the i. 
Her father, who was present, asked her to 
write his name. "Shall I write Little Billy 
or Stiff Billy," was her reply, imagining that 
the question was proposed by a little boy of 
the name of William belonging to the fami- 
ly. She wrote Stiff B lly — the two words 
without connexion, and after writing them 
both, she w T ent back and dotted the i in 
each. She then w T rote Springfied under 
them, and after observing it a moment, 
smilingly remarked that she had left out a 
letter, and inserted the 1 in the proper 
place. 

A w r atch enclosed in a case was handed 
6 



58 JANE C. RIDER. 

to her, and she was requested to tell the 
time — after examining both sides, she open- 
ed the case, and then answered the ques- 
tion. Afterwards, bat in the same parox- 
ysm, a gentleman present wrote his name 
in characters so small that no one else could 
distinguish it at the usual distance from the 
eye. As soon as the paper was put into 
her hand, she pronounced the name. It 
was thought that any attempt to open the 
eye would be indicated by the contraction 
of the skin on the forehead, but though she 
was closely watched, nothing of the kind 
was observed. 

She also at this time repeated poetry 
and sung, as before. This she did almost 
every paroxysm ; and though there are 
some pieces which she must have repeated 
in this way scores of times, her knowledge 
of them when she is awake is not in the 
least improved by the practice. These 
experiments were performed in the presence 
of several of the most respectable and- intel- 
ligent gentlemen in town, and they were all 
convinced there could be no deception. 

While she was in a paroxysm a few 



CONDUCT IN THE PAROXYSMS. 59 

evenings afterwards, the lights were re- 
moved from her room, knd the windows so 
secured that no object was discernible. 
Two books were then presented to her 
which had been selected for the purpose ; 
she immediately told the titles of both, 
though one of them was a book which she 
had never seen before. 

Monday, Nov. 25th, she was removed to 
my house ; but, though she had several 
paroxysms in the interval, nothing worthy 
of notice occurred till the 30th. The 
morning of that day, as she was engaged 
in her customary employments, she com- 
plained suddenly of dizziness, seated herself 
in a chair, and immediately became insensi- 
ble. Soon after, she applied a bandage to 
the eyes, went to her chamber and changed 
part of her dress. She then came down, 
and taking a basket w T hich she had pur- 
chased the day before, and which was much 
soiled, remarked that it was dirty, and she 
would wash it. This operation she per- 
formed with as much neatness and despatch 
as she could have done when awake. 

The room in the front part of the house 



60 JANE C. RIDER. 

she had never seen except for a few mo- 
ments several months since. The shutters 
were closed, and it was so dark that it was 
impossible for any one possessing only ordi- 
nary powers of vision to distinguish the 
colors in the carpet. She, however, though 
her eyes were bandaged, noticed and com- 
mented on the various articles of furniture, 
and pointed out the different colors in the 
hearth rug. She also took up, and read 
several cards which were lying on the table. 
Soon after observing her with a skein of 
thread in her hand, I offered to hold it for 
her to wind. She immediately placed it on 
my hands, and took hold of the end of the 
thread in a manner which satisfied me she 
saw it, and completed the operation as 
skilfully and readily as if she were awake. 
Having left the room a moment, I found 
her on my return with her needle threaded, 
and hemming a cambric handkerchief. She 
however soon abandoned her work, and 
was then asked to read a little while aloud. 
Bryant's Poems were given to her ; she 
opened the book, and turning to the " Than- 
atopsis," read the whole, (three pages,) and 



EXPERIMENTS IN PAROXYSMS. 61 

the most of it with great propriety. Some- 
thing being said about her manner of read- 
ing, she observed there were parts of the 
piece which she did not understand, that 
she could read it much better if she under- 
stood it. The day before, she had procured 
several samples of calico at the shops, por- 
tions of some of which had been washed 
since the commencement of her paroxysm. 
On their being spread out before her, she 
not only told the shop at which she obtained 
each, and named its price, but compared the 
part which had been washed with the piece 
from which it was taken, and when there 
was any change, pointed out the difference. 

A colored girl came in and seated herself 
before her : she was asked if she knew 
that lady ; she smiled and returned no an- 
swer. Some one said, " She has a beautiful 
complexion, ha? she not]" Jane laughed 
heartily, and said, " I should think she was 
somewhat tanned." 

At dinner, she took her seat at the table 

as usual, helped herself to bread when it 

was offered, presented her tumbler for water, 

and through the whole time, did not, by 

6* 



62 JANE C. RIDER. 

her manner or actions, betray the least want 
of sight. After dinner the bandage which 
she put over her eyes in the morning, and 
which she had worn ever since, was taken 
off, and in its place a black silk handker- 
chief stuffed with cotton was bound on so 
as to fit accurately to the nose and cheeks. 
Though extremely reluctant on account 
of severe pain in the head, she was at 
length prevailed on to write a part of the 
" Snow Storm," one of the pieces which she 
is in the habit of repeating when asleep. 
She finished one stanza of six lines, and 
part of a second. In writing she followed 
for a time the ruled lines placed under her 
paper, but they having been displaced, she 
proceeded without them, continuing, how- 
ever, nearly in a straight line. In one or 
two instances she failed to make a proper 
division of the poetry into lines, and several 
times misspelled words which she would not 
have done had she been awake. Twice 
she noticed the inaccuracy in the spelling, 
and corrected it at the time, but when 
writing the same word afterwards she fell 
into a similar error. A person standing 



EXPERIMENTS. 63 

behind her very carefully interposed a piece 
of brown paper between her eyes and the 
paper on which she was waiting". When- 
ever this was done she appeared disturbed, 
and exclaimed, " don't, don't." For some 
time I w T atched her narrowly to ascertain 
whether the bandage was constantly in 
place, but I could detect no change in its 
position. 

A watch was presented to her, the face 
of which was concealed by a piece of brown 
paper placed between it and the chrystal. 
Instead of telling the time, she observed, 
" Any thing put a paper watch !" 

In the evening, when the room was 
so dark that nothing but the position of the 
windows could be discerned by common 
eyes, a blue fancy handkerchief was placed 
before her, and she was asked if she did not 
wish for a beautiful pink handkerchief — she 
replied, " I hope I know^ blue from pink." 

The next day, during a paroxysm, she 
went into a dark room and selected from 
among several letters, having different direc- 
tions, the one bearing the name w^hich she 
waa requested to find. She w T as heard to 



64 JANE C. RIDER. 

take up one letter after another and examine 
it, till she came to the one for which she 
was in search, when she exclaimed, " Here 
it is," and brought it out. She also, with 
her eyes bandaged, wrote of her own accord 
two stanzas of poetry on a slate ; the lines 
were straight and parallel. 

One circumstance I have omitted to men- 
tion, which is, the power of imitation which 
she occasionally exhibits. This extends 
not only to the manner, but to the language 
and sentiments of the persons whom she 
personifies : and her performances in this 
way are so striking, and her conceptions of 
character so just, that nothing can be more 
comical. 

This, like her other extraordinary powers, 
is confined to the somnambulist state — at 
other times she does not exhibit the slightest 
trace of it. 

Many other circumstances might be ad- 
ded similar to those which have been de- 
tailed ; enough, however, has been given 
to illustrate the peculiar features of this sin- 
gular case. I have not myself been a wit- 
ness of every fact here related ; but I have 



REMOVAL TO WORCESTER. 65 

mentioned nothing differing in kind or more 
remarkable in degree than I have seen with 
my own eyes. However extraordinary these 
phenomena may appear, therefore, I do not 
hesitate to vouch for the general accuracy 
of every statement. 



Sect. IV. — Abstract from the records of the hospital at 
Worcester. 

As it was very apparent that her disease 
was aggravated by the daily trial of her pe- 
culiar powers to which she was subjected by 
a constant succession of visitors, arrange- 
ments were made for Jane's removal to the 
Hospital in Worcester, where she could en- 
joy that seclusion which seemed essential 
for her cure. She accordingly left Spring- 
field the fifth of December, and was the 
same day received into the Hospital. 

The following abstract from the daily re- 
cord of cases kept in that institution will be 
found to confirm the observations which had 
been before made relative to her extraordi- 
nary power of vision, and will show the pro- 
gress which has been made towards a cure. 



66 JANE C. RIDriR. 

Jane had no paroxysm till the evening of 
December 6th, the day after her admission. 
" Immediately after falling asleep she be- 
gan to breathe with difficulty, her mind 
seemed to labor, and she was uneasy and in 
perpetual motion. She said nothing till 
questions were asked her. She told the time 
of day by a watch, in the dark, with her eyes 
closed — the fire was not extinguished, and of 
course it was not entirely dark. Her pulse 
was 72 in a minute, and without irritation. 
She answered questions regularly, but with 
an air of impatience ; and said " they kept 
asking her to read, but she would not." 
She declared she would not go to Worcester, 
and said she was at Mr. Stebbins's in Spring- 
field. Afterwards she complained she was 
locked up in the Hospital, and did not wish 
to stay, and that she would not have come 
here if she had expected to be locked up. One 
hour and a half after the commencement of 
the paroxysm, her feet were placed in a bath 
of the Nitro-Muriatic Acid. In five minutes 
she became calm, and went into a quiet 
sleep : in a few minutes more she waked 
very pleasant." 



RECORDS OF THE HOSPITAL. 67 

From this time till the 13th, she had 
from one to three paroxysms daily ; in some 
of which " she repeated passages of poetry 
very sweetly ; sung some tunes with cor- 
rectness; and, with her eyes bandaged, walk- 
ed about the house, and from room to room, 
without inconvenience." Many of these 
paroxysms, the Doctor observes, he is now 
satisfied were occasioned by improper food, 
particularly by the free use of fruit. 

Dec. 13. "Jane had a more interesting 
paroxysm than at any time before since her 
residence in the Hospital. In a paroxysm 
the day previous, she lost a book which she 
could not afterwards find. Immediately on 
the access of the paroxysm to-day, she went 
to the sofa, raised the cushion, took up the 
book, and commenced reading. She read 
two or three pages to herself. Her eyes 
were then covered with a white handker- 
chief folded so as to make 8 or 10 thickness- 
es, and the spaces below the bandage filled 
with strips of black velvet. She then took 
a book and read audibly, distinctly, and cor- 
rectly, nearly a page. It was then proposed 



68 JANE C. RIDER. 

to her to play backgammon. She said she 
knew nothing of the game, but consented to 
1 earn it. She commenced playing with the 
assistance of one acquainted with the moves, 
and acquired a knowledge of the game 
very rapidly. She handled the men and 
dice with facility, and counted off the points 
correctly. Had another paroxysm in the 
afternoon in which she played a number of 
games of backgammon, and made such pro- 
ficiency that, without any assistance, she 
won the sixth game of Dr. Butler, who is 
an experienced player. Knowing her to be 
a novice, he suggested several alterations in 
her moves — these alterations she declined 
making, and the result showed the correct- 
ness of her judgment. The Doctor, a little 
mortified at being beo.ten by a sleeping girl, 
tried another game, in which he exerted all 
his skill. At its close she had but three 
men left on the board, and these so situated 
that a single move would have cleared the 
whole. While she was engaged in this 
game, an apple was taken from a dish, 
in which there were several varieties, and 
held before her, but higher than her eyes. 






RECORDS OF THE HOSPITAL. 69 

On being asked its color, she raised her head, 
like a person who wished to see an object a 
little elevated, and gave a correct answer to 
the question. " In the lucid interval, half 
an hour after she awoke from the paroxysm, 
it was proposed to her to play backgammon. 
She observed she never saw it played, and 
was wholly ignorant of the game — on a trial 
it was found she could not even set the 
men." 

Dec. 15. "Paroxysm rather singular. 
She is full of mischief like a roguish child — 
is very pleasant all the while, but will not 
read. At twilight her eyes were more open 
than common, but she insisted she could not 
see. Ate too heartily and felt sickness at 
stomach." 

Dec. 16." Has been different in the parox- 
ysms to-day. She opens her eyes and declares 
she cannot see, when they are shut. When 
reading, I placed my fingers on her eyes, — 
she said immediately it was total darkness, 

and she could not read a word. The fact 
7 



70 JANE C. RIDER. 

that her eyes are open in the paroxysms 
proves that they are less susceptible to light, 
and of course that her vision is less acute. 
At dinner her eyes were open, and all the 
family supposed her awake ; but she declared 
in the evening she had not the least recol- 
lection of dining, of seeing some friends, or 
of witnessing a catastrophe in the gallery 
which disturbed the whole family, and in 
which she was much interested at the 
time." 

Dec. 18. "In the paroxysm this evening her 
eyes are open, and she appears, in all respects, 
like a person awake ; yet her manner is 
very different from that which she usually 
exhibits. She evidently has lost her former 
acuteness of sight — she protests she can see 
nothing when blinded, and will not attempt 
the least thing." 

Dec. 19. "During the whole day the 
appearance was the same as on previous 
days, excepting her mind was more tranquil, 
and she was more disposed to melancholy. 
She once said her head ached, and felt 



RECORDS OF THE HOSPITAL. 71 

strangely. She appeared very much like a 
person insane. I gave her a letter about 
four o'clock, which she read, and remarked 
that she did not know that her friends 
expected her to write to them. At nine 
o'clock she was asked if she had seen a 
letter from Springfield ; she denied that she 
had, but recollected pircumstances which 
transpired yesterday ; and, in this respect, 
was different from what she usually is during 
the paroxysm. A stranger would say, you 
have got an odd or insane girl, but would 
suspect nothing more. My family disagreed 
about the time of her coming out of the 
paroxysm ; one thought she was out of it 
when others thought not." 

Dec, 21. "Very well and wakeful all 
day, but in the evening had a paroxysm of 
complete insanity ; talked, ran about the 
house, and refused to take her medicine, 
When forced to take it she shed tears, and 
fell into a sort of hysterical sobbing, which 
lasted some minutes." 

Dec. 24. " Had a paroxysm in the even- 
ing, in which she played backgammon : at 



72 JANE C. RIDER. 

first her eyes were closed, afterwards wide 
open. She said she could not read a word 
or see at all when blinded. Lately her face 
has been less flushed, and her head less 
painful." 

Dec, 30. In a paroxysm to-day she wrote 
the following letter to her aunt. She after- 
wards remembered that she had written a 
letter, but could not recollect its contents. 

" Dear Aunt, 

1 feel that it is my duty to write to 
you, and inform you of my situation, as it 
is a very critical one. I received a letter 
from father yesterday, saying he had not 
written to you, and wished me to do so. I 
thought 1 would try. Perhaps you will 
wonder how I came to Worcester Hospital 
— but it is for my health. As I prize that 
above every thing else, I was willing to 
deny myself a great many pleasures only 
for a few months. I left home last April, 
and went to Springfield with a young lady 
of my acquaintance, and liked there so well 
that I concluded to stay and spend the 



LETTER TO HER AUNT. 73 

summer. While there I was attacked with 
the disorder that has brought me to the 
Hospital. The first attack was in June. 
It was about ten in the evening — the people 
called a physician ; he thought it was par- 
tial derangement, and gave me an emetic 
that stilled me a little, and I got over it, 
and the next day was quite well. The 
people thought it was a very strange disor- 
der, and let it pass off. But I was troubled 
almost every week with the same disorder, 
and it soon became something serious. I 
found I was growing worse every day, and 
was put under the physician's care. Medi- 
cine did not seem to have any effect, and I 
was still growing worse. In October I was 
attacked in the day time. It was Tuesday 
morning, and it continued till Friday morn- 
ing, when I went into a natural sleep, and 
awoke up and knew nothing of what had 
passed. I will not try to give you any de- 
scription of what I did, as I presume you 
have read it in the newspapers, as my 
case was the one referred to, and I think 
the pieces are not exaggerated in the least 
Father was sent for when I was in one 



74 JANE C. RIDER. 

of my turns, as I do not know what eke to 
call them, and reached Springfield in about 
48 hours ; and an hour after I came out of 
it. He expected to take me home with 
him ; but I was taken the next morning, 
and continued so most of the time he was 
in Springfield. He said it was no place for 
me at home, and there must be something 
done. They then concluded to bring me 
here, as people thought if I could be cured 
any where it would be here ; and I am h p y 
to say I am much better than I was when 
I came here. I have been here about a 
month, and I think I shall be entirely well 
in two months more, as my turns are not 
near as often, and no two have been alike. 
The people of Springfield were so much 
interested for me, that they offered to pay 
my board here until I was well ; so the night 
I left Springfield I had a present of 48 dollars." 

In the evening of the day on which she 
wrote the letter she had a very distressing 
paroxysm, which was followed by a mild 
form of fever which lasted several days ; 
for an account of which see Dr. Woodward's 
letter of January 6th. 



RECORDS OF THE HOSPITA.L. 75 

Jan. 10. " Did not feel well all day yes- 
terday — had confusion of head and flushing 
of face. At evening she had a paroxysm 
in which she recollected all that was done 
in the day ; and after the paroxysm all that 
was done in it. It lasted but half an hour, 
when she went into a quiet sleep and slept 
till morning." 

Jan. 11 — 13. "Had slight paroxysms in 
which consciousness was not lost — recol- 
lected in the paroxysms what transpired in 
the interval, and in the interval the circum- 
stances of the paroxysm — is greatly inclined 
to indulge in eating, and if she eats freely 
is unusually dull and sleepy afterwards." 

Jan. 19. " Has had one or two paroxysms 
since the 13th similar to those last described. 
In the one to-day she repeated the " Pilgrim 
Fathers" very distinctly and correctly. I 
had censured her for eating fried cakes and 
the like between meals ; and she kept a fast 
during the paroxysm to-day, but called for 
pancakes, which she said might be eaten 
with impunity on fast-days." 



76 JANE C. RIDER. 

To the preceding history, Dr. Woodward 
has subjoined the following statement of his 
views respecting the nature of the disease, 
and an outline of the treatment which has 
been pursued. 

" Worcester, Jan. 29th, 1834. 
•* The above abstract is taken correctly 
from the records of the Hospital, and forms 
an epitome of this interesting case of som- 
nambulism since the subject of it has been 
in the institution. The object in placing 
Miss Rider in the Hospital was that she 
might be so far secluded from the intercourse 
of visiters as to afford a more favorable 
chance for a cure. The medical treatment 
pu sued by her physician, Dr. Belden, was 
the same in general as that adopted at the 
Hospital ; and our views of the nature of 
the case and the causes which led to the 
extraordinary symptoms perfectly coincide. 
To restore the equilibrium of the circulation, 
and to warm the feet, which were always 
cold, the Nitro-Muriatic Acid bath was pre- 
scribed, and has been continued almost daily 
to this time. The Tincture of Guaiacum, 



LETTER FROM DR. WOODWARD. 17 

Tincture of Sanguinaria, and calomel in 
small doses, were also given with the inten- 
tion of affecting a secretion, which, at this 
period of life, is essential to health, and to 
the establishment of which the favorable 
change in her state is mainly to be attribu- 
ted. Her head was also shaved, and blisters 
were applied to the part which had been 
painful from the first, and, at one time, to 
the inferior extremities likewise. Great care 
is still necessary on the subject of diet. 
Many of the paroxysms may be directly 
traced to the quantity or quality of the food 
which had previously been taken. 

The somnambulism in this case undoubt- 
edly depends on physical disease, and there 
is every reason to believe that it will gradu- 
ally disappear, if a judicious course be 
pursued. Independent of all other conside- 
rations, I have no doubt, from the exhibitions 
at the Hospital, that all the facts stated in 
this history of the case are strictly correct. 
" S. B. Woodward. 55 

During a late visit to Worcester, I had 
an opportunity of witnessing the improve- 



78 JANE C. RIDER, 

ment in the health of my patient eince her 
residence in the Hospital. Her face has 
lost the flush which it used habitually to 
wear — the head is now seldom painful, and 
there is no tenderness at the spot formerly 
affected, and the natural, healthful temper- 
ature of the extremities has been restored. 
There is still some oppression after eating, 
especially if she deviates from the regulations 
which have been prescribed respecting her 
diet ; and any gross violation is almost 
certain to be followed by a paroxysm. Strong 
mental emotion too, or any kind of mental 
or physical excitement, conduces to the 
same effect ; and, sometimes, is of itself 
sufficient to occasion a fit. In a paroxysm 
which occurred while I was there, the eyes 
were open and appeared nearly natural — 
the pupil was, perhaps, a little more dilated 
than common. Her manner was hurried — 
the speech and motions rather quick and 
abrupt. She appeared to be sensible of 
every thing which took place around her r 
— knew me, and answered my questions 
with propriety and correctness ; and, so far 
as I could discover, had a proper concep- 



AT WORCESTER. 79 

tion of the relations of time and place. A 
handkerchief having been tied over her eyes 
she declared she could not see at all — said 
that it was perfect darkness to her. During 
the whole time her perceptions appeared to 
be more quick and vivid than natural. Her 
remarks, as in the earl er p- ods of her 
disease, were often distinguished for a 
degree of wit and brilliancy peculiar to these 
occasions. She also, at this time, sung a3 
she formerly did. In the paroxysm she 
recollected circumstances which transpired 
a short time before, but did not, the next 
day, remember what occurred in the fit # 
The termination of the paroxysm is often 
less distinct than it formerly was, though 
the access, I believe, continues to be well 
marked. 

Most of the facts contained in the follow- 
ing letters have already been notcedin the 
Journal ; but, as some of these facts are 
stated in the letters more fully, and with 
additional circumstances, it has been thought 
that the history of the case would be ren- 
dered more complete by inserting them in 
the order in w r hich they were received. 



80 JANE C. RIDER. 

" Worcester, Dec 18th, 1833. 
" Dear Doctor, 

I have deferred writing you on the inter- 
esting case of somnambulism to this time, 
as I have had nothing interesting, and 
particularly nothing new, to communicate. 
We repeated your experiments of reading, 
&c. with success ; and our experience 
confirms yours fully, as our records will 
show. Jane learned the game of back- 
gammon during the paroxysms, and now 
plays it well in them, but cannot play it at 
all in the lucid interval. She has had from 
one to three paroxysms a day till yesterday, 
when she had none. If undisturbed, she is 
quiet, and the paroxysms do not exceed an 
hour, during which she says little or nothing 
— if attempts are made to draw from her 
any thing interesting she remains much 
longer in the paroxysm. Indeed she has 
never waked till she was quiet and still. On 
Sunday the nature of the paroxysms changed 
— she became very mischievous about the 
house, and turned every thing topsy-turvy — 
she laughed constantly, and her eyes were 
open. On Monday this appearance was 



LETTER FROM DR. W. 81 

still more manifest — her eyes were wide open 
— her vision natural, and she could not see at all 
blinded, — it is as dark as midnight, she says. 
She appears like any person awake, but 
more like an insane than a rational girl. 
Monday evening she said her head was 
better than it had Ipeen for several months, 
and she had no disposition to sleep. To-day 
she was wakeful, and has been busy. This 
evening she has a paroxysm ivide awake, and 
is at this time playing backgammon, of 
which game she is fond during the parox- 
ysm, but says nothing about it in the lucid 
interval. During the game, I placed a 
handkerchief over her eyes ; she stopped 
immediately, and said, It is total darkness 
I urged her to move, but she insisted she 
could not see at all. She is as well as usual, 
apparently contented, and generally pleasant 
— in her paroxysms muchmore sothanshe was 
when she came here. I have used the 
Nitro-Muriatic acid bath, and the Calomel 
pill, at night, and Tinct. Guaiacum in doses 
of one drachm three times a day. She has 
frequently come out of the paroxysm while 
8 



8% JANE C. RIDER. 

her feet were in the bath. She inclines to 
eat too freely, and during the paroxysm 
scolds about Dr. Belden's short allowance ; 
but always speaks respectfully of you, and 
all her Springfield friends, when out of the 
paroxysm. 

On Monday, the day she was wide awake, 
she sat at table and ate her food as usual, 
and no one supposed her to be in a parox- 
ysm. She witnessed a catastrophe in one 
of our dining rooms, and interested herself 
in the distress of a female attendant who 
got hurt ; but at evening, when in the lucid 
interval, she declared she had no knowledge 
of either the dinner or the other transaction. 

I think the present change is favorable. 
It very clearly establishes the views which 
you had in common with me, that she saw 
through the articles interposed between her 
and the object, by the intensity of the power 
of vision. Now, I think, she has lost that 
acuteness of sight, and hence can open her 
eyes ; before, she would shrink if her eyes 
were open in day light. I shall be glad to 
answer any queries concerning this novel 



LETTER FROM DR. W. 83 

case ; and, at the end of it, whatever may 
be its event, we must put our information 
together for the benefit of science, and to 
prevent those delusions from gaining ground 
which such cases are likely to beget, and 
strengthen. 

Yours truly and affectionately, 

S. B. Woodward." 



" Worcester, Jan. 6, 1834. 
"My dear Doctor, 

Considering you as the guardian of 
Jane C. Rider, I write to you to inform you 
that she has been laboring under a mild form 
of fever for a few days past. On Monday 
week, she had a long paroxysm of som- 
nambulism, the last that she has had, and 
yet exhibiting hardly any peculiarity from 
the lucid interval. She complained of 
headach, and for the first time, in the even- 
ing, had a high hysterical paroxysm, wished 
me to cut her head open, and various other 
things like hysterical delirium. Her face 
was flushed and she complained of soreness 
in the tender part. I poured a stream of 
cold water on the head for a minute, but 



84 



JANE C. RIDER. 



when it struck upon the tender part, she 
uttered a scream, and immediately came to 
her usual consciousness. She had previous- 
ly taken 40 drops of laudanum at two doses. 
She had a restless night, and got the clothes 
off the bed, and on the morning of Tuesday 
felt sick, which I supposed to be the effect 
of laudanum. Her headach continued, the 
tongue became coated and face flushed, her 
feet cold as marble, and inclined to be numb. 

I shaved each side of her head and ap- 
plied a blister, blistered her ancles and gave 
her calomel. 

Her feet are still inclined to coldness, and 
her face is flushed. She has some headach 
all the time, her eye is dull, pupils rather 
large, light offends her. She laughs some — 
at times feels badly — is not severely sick ; 
and I should have no apprehension if hers 
were a common case. Yet I have hardly 
thought of the case since she came to the 
Hospital, but the idea of effusion has sug- 
gested itself to my mind, and I confess has 
given me some uneasiness during this slight 
illness. 

I omitted to mention that the pulse is 



LETTER FROM JANE. 85 

slow — at least as slow as in health — tongue 
is still coated. I have been thus particular, 
as I know that her case is peculiarly in- 
teresting to you, and so singular to all of us 
as to leave us in doubt what changes are 
going on in the brain. I will apprize you 
if any thing new occurs in her case, — in the 
mean time we will see that every care be 
taken of her. 

Yours affectionately, 

S. B. Woodward. 



" Worcester, Jan. 11, 1834. 
" Kind Friend, 

" As it was your wish that I should write 
to you respecting my health, I have a good 
opportunity now, and I thought I would 
improve it. Dr. Woodward informed me that 
he had written you a short time since, telling 
you that I was sick ; but I am happy to say 
I am much better now, and think that being 
a little more unwell than usual has had a 
very good effect ; for I am much better than 
I was before it. I have had but two very 
slight paroxysms since the 30th of Decem- 
ber, and they are very different from any I 
8* 



86 JANE C. RIDER, 

ever had before. I can recollect what passed 
before them, when awake, while in the pa- 
roxysm, and after I get out of them, can 
recollect what passed during the paroxysm. 
I think I have lost the power of seeing in the 
dark. 

I have seen in the Boston papers that I 
am entirely well, and have returned to my 
friends, and I hope I can say so myself in a 
few weeks ; not that I am discontented in 
the least, for I am not. The time has 
passed very quick and pleasantly. I take a 
ride almost every day — that I like very 
much, and think it does me good. I feel as 
if I never could repay my friends in Spring- 
field for all they have done for me — indeed 
I know I never can. All I can do is to 
thank them, and deny myself every thing 
that would be injurious to my health, and I 
find that it is very hard to resist every tempta- 
tion : but when I think what has been done 
for me, I can. I have nothing more at pre- 
sent to write. Please to give my respects 
to Mrs. B. and all other enquiring friends. 
I am with respect, 

Your most obedient friend, 

Jane C. Rider. " 



LETTER FROM DR. W. 87 

In the same letter, Dr. Woodward observes, 
" I have nothing to add to Jane's letter, 
but a confirmation of all that she has stated. 
The last paroxysms are short, and very un- 
like the others. The febrile attack has gone 
off very favorably. If she is extremely 
careful on the subject of diet and exposure, 
I feel confident that she will soon be free 
from her disagreeable disease. 

Yours truly and respectfully, 

S. B. Woodward." 



" Worcester, Jan. 14, 1834. 
" Dear Doctor, 

" Yours of yesterday came to hand this 
afternoon. I hasten to communicate to you 
what information I can in the compass of a 
letter. Nothing particularly interesting oc- 
curred in the case, except what confirmed 
your common observation, till the 13th Dec. 
when she consented for the first time to read. 
Her eyes were blinded with a thick stout 
white cotton handkerchief, and the spaces 
under the eyes filled with strips of black 
silk velvet, till I, and Mrs. Woodward, and 
Dr. Chandler were satisfied that it would be 



88 JANE C. RIDER, 

total darkness to us. I then took a book 
quite new to her, and opened it at a page 
wholly by accident. She took the book, 
and read the page distinctly and accurately, 
shut up the book, and declared she would 
read no more. 

It was then proposed to her to play back- 
gammon ; she declared that she did not 
understand the game : she however con- 
sented to play, and with the assistance of 
an experienced prompter, threw the dice 
and made the moves correctly, always say- 
ing as the dice fell upon the board, five, six, 
&c. as the case might be. She learned 
the game pretty well in the course of the 
day — played with Dr. Bartlett of Lowell, 
Dr. Butler, the editor of the Mass. Spy, &c. 

She slept nearly all day. At night she 
waked, and it was proposed to her to play 
the game. She said that she did not un- 
derstand it ; and, in attempting to play, she 
failed even to set the men. She has often 
played the game since, and has thoroughly 
learned it, and now plays it well both in the 
paroxysms and in the lucid interval. We 



LETTER FROM DR. W. 89 

have found that when least disturbed she 
soonest comes out of the paroxysm. 

From the time that she came into the 
Hospital till the 16th of Dec. her eyes were 
closed, and she was in great pain if forced 
to open them. On that day she walked about 
all the time of the paroxysm with her eyes 
wide open. They were dull and heavy, her 
face flushed, and she was very mischievous. 
On that and the succeeding days I tried 
the bandage on her eyes, and she uniformly 
declared that she could not see at all, and 
that it was total darkness. As she was so 
playful and roguish on those days, I did not 
feel that I could rely with great confidence 
on her statements, although the fact that 
the eyes were open led me to predict that 
she could not see. Subsequent experience 
has satisfied me that this extraordinary 
power is lost, at least for the present. For 
some time after this change took place she 
did not recollect in the interval what occurred 
in the paroxysm, and was as much in the 
dark about it as she was before ; — recently 
she has a recollection of what occurs in the 
paroxysm afterwards, and her manners have 



90 JANE G. RIDER. 

greatly improved in the paroxysm, so that 
she is now quite a civil, well bred somnam- 
bulist. 

The fever left her in about a fortnight, or 
perhaps a day or two less. Her head and 
extremities were blistered, and she took 
Fowler's Solution. She had one long parox- 
ysm, and two short ones of 15 or 20 minutes, 
in the fortnight. Her diet^was then restricted 
to gruel, weak coffee, porridge, &c. I am 
satisfied she often has paroxysms from eat- 
ing too much, or what is improper for her. 
She is also inclined to eat in the paroxysm, 
which in my opinion protracts it. * * * 

During the early part of her residence 
here she repeated verses, in the paroxysms, 
which she could not recollect at all in the 
interval, and sung as at Springfield. At 
present I am confident she has lost that 
power, and that the acuteness of her 
. faculties, as well as that of the senses, is 
lost. 

With respect to a theory of this interesting 
case, I am confirmed in my first impression 
of the rationale of the symptoms. Acute- 
ness of vision to an astonishing degree and 



LETTER FROM DR. W. 91 

of memory of early impressions — and as 
phrenologists would say, a morbid manifes- 
tation of the faculty of time and tune, so that 
she could sing accurately and agreeably, 
although she can do neither in her ordinary 
state of health. This is settling the matter 
at a sweep, I am sensible ; but yet it ap- 
pears to be philosophically done. * * * 
Truly and affectionately yours, 

S. B. Woodward. 55 



"Worcester, Feb. 11, 1834. 
" Dear Doctor, 

# * * * # Jane 5 s paroxysms have 
ceased altogether for the last 9 days, and 
she is in good health, excepting a distress 
after taking food. She has never appeared 
so cheerful, and in so good spirits, since her 
residence with us. During most of last 
week she did the duty of an assistant, in the 
absence of one of our attendants, and she 
has done more or less work in the halls 
every day. During the last paroxysm I ap- 
plied leeches to her head. She waked 
during the paroxysm, not a little surprised 
at her new head ornaments. She now takes 



92 JANE C RIDER. 

the Myrrh and Iron pills, and no other medi- 
cine. She has lately chosen a milk diet, 
which suits her. * * 

Yours truly, 

S. B. Woodward." 



" 



93 



CHAPTER III. 

REMARKS. 

Those who have witnessed Jane's con- 
duct for a single hour during a paroxysm, 
need not be told that she is no impostor. — 
There is an air of honesty about her, which, 
however difficult it may be to describe, it is 
easy to discern, and hard to counterfeit. 
But, independent of any regard to her cha- 
racter, the very nature of the facts stated 
preclude the idea of imposition ; certainly 
unless it be admitted that others were con- 
cerned with her in a conspiracy to delude 
the public. No art could enable her to see 
in a dark room, or when her eyes were closely 
covered. Nor is the supposition that she 
was assisted by others at all more tenable ; 
for aside from the improbability of the thing, 
an argument which those only who know 
the circumstances can duly appreciate, the 
same phenomena have been witnessed at 
9 



94 JANE C. RIDER. 

Mr. Stebbins's, at my house, and at Worces- 
ter ; and at neither of the removes which 
she made was she accompanied by a single 
individual who had before been connected 
with her. And, if any farther confirmation 
is necessary, the fact that a cure has been 
nearly effected by medical treatment, proves], 
most incontestably, that these extraordinary 
powers were the effect of bodily disease. 

On reviewing this case, Ave at once perceive 
that in addition to the mental hallucination 
and the peculiar state of the bodily organs 
which constitute somnambulism, there is an 
unnatural or excited state of some of the 
intellectual powers connected with physical 
disease ; analogous to that which exists in 
some cases of insanity, or in persons whose 
brain is affected by disease, or in conse- 
quence of mechanical violence. The extra- 
ordinary revival of past impressions, the 
ability to sing, and the talent of imitation, 
therefore, are to be classed with similar oc- 
currences not connected with the somnam- 
bulist state. 

The records of medicine furnish many 
examples of a similar affection of the mental 



REMARKABLE GASES. 95 

faculties connected with different diseases. 
In the cast recorded by Dr. Dyce, most of 
the peculiarities which appeared so remarka- 
ble in Jane were observed ; but I now pro- 
pose to notice a few examples in which the 
same symptoms have been witnessed dis- 
connected with somnambulism. 

" A case occurred in St. Thomas's Hos- 
pital of a man, who was in a state of stupor 
in consequence of an injury of the head. On 
his partial recovery, he spoke a language 
which nobody in the hospital understood, 
but which was soon ascertained to be Welsh. 
It was then discovered that he had been 30 
years absent from Wales, and before the 
accident he had entirely forgotten his native 
language. On his perfect recovery, he 
completely forgot his Welsh again, and re- 
covered the English language. 

" A lady mentioned by Dr. Prichard, when 
in a state of delirium, spoke a language 
which nobody about her understood, but 
which also was discovered to be Welsh. — 
None of her friends could form any concep- 
tion of the manner in which she had become 
acquainted with that language ; but, after 




96 JANE C. RIDER. 

much inquiry, it was discovered that in her 
childhood she had a nurse from Brittany, 
the dialect of which is closely analogous to 
the Welsh. The lady had at that time 
learned a good deal of this language, but 
had entirely forgotten it for many years be- 
fore this attack of fever. 

"A woman who was a native of the High- 
lands, but accustomed to speak English, 
was under the care of Dr. Macintosh, on 
account of an atlack of apoplexy. She was 
so far recovered as to look around her with 
an appearance of intelligence, but the Doc- 
tor could not make her comprehend any 
thing he said to her, or answer the most 
simple question. He then desired one of 
her friends to address her in Gaelic, when 
she immediately answered with readiness 
and fluency. 

"An Italian gentleman, mentioned by Dr. 
Rush, who died of the yellow fever in New 
York, in the beginning of his illness spoke 
English, in the middle of it French ; but 
on the day of his death he spoke only 
Italian. 

" A case is related of a boy, who at the 



REMARKABLE CASES. 97 

age of four received a fracture of the skull, 
for which he underwent the operation of 
trepan. He was at that time in a state of 
perfect stupor, and after his recovery re- 
tained no recollection of the accident or the 
operation. At the age of fifteen, during 
the delirium of a fever, he gave his mother 
a correct description of the operation, and 
the persons who were present at it, with 
their dress, and other minute particulars. 
He had never been observed to allude to it 
before, and no means were known by which 
he could have acquired the circumstances 
which he mentioned." 

Other examples of the influence of dis- 
eases on the mind might be added, but 
enough have been given to answer the pur- 
pose of illustration. 

But that which distinguishes the case 
whose history has just been given from all oth- 
ers which I can find, and were I to judge from 
the incredulity with which the statements 
respecting it have been received, from all 
others on record, is the extraordinary power 
of vision. I say extraordinary power of vision ; 
for I believe, darkness and bandages not- 
9* 



98 JANE C, RIDER. 

withstanding, that when Jane read, wrote, 
&c, she actually saw ; and that perception 
was not communicated in a mysterious way 
of which we can form no idea. In the 
records of animal magnetism, it is true, we 
read of persons acquiring a knowledge of 
external things by means which have no 
connexion with the senses : as for example 
discovering the contents of a sealed letter 
by merely applying it to the pit of the 
stomach or the back of the head, or what is 
stranger still, detecting the secret thoughts of 
another only by contact, or without contact, 
if placed in a certain magnetic relation. 
And strange as these facts appear, this sys- 
tem has believers ; and many, I doubt not, 
ascribe the knowledge which Jane obtains 
of visible objects, when her eyes are closed, 
to an influence of this kind. I have received 
a letter from a very respectable gentleman 
who wished to ascertain some facts relative 
to her vision, obviously with a view to satisfy 
himself on this very point. 

As to animal magnetism, its claims are 
of so very extraordinary a character, that a 
man must possess more than an ordinary 



vision. 99 

share of credulity who can at once be brought 
to admit them. But, without entering into 
a discussion of this subject, I am satisfied 
that all the facts in the case under conside- 
ration admit of a solution on less questiona- 
ble principles. 

Two things are necessary to vision; first, 
that an inverted image of the object be 
painted on the retina, or nervous expansion 
at the back of the eye : secondly, that the 
impression be conveyed to the brain in such 
a way as to occasion perception. 

The eye is simply an optical instrument, 
made up of parts endowed with different 
refractive powers, so arranged and combined 
as to form a distinct image just where it 
should fall, on the retina. That part of the 
process of vision, therefore, which relates to 
the formation of this image, is purely physi- 
cal^ — the effect of a physical agent, modified 
by physical . causes. — The eye is entirely 
passive — it affects the light passing through 
it in precisely the same way that inanimate 
transparent substances of the same form 
and density would affect it ; that is, it 
changes the direction of the rays, and brings 



100 JANE C. RIDER. 

them to a focus at a certain point behind it. 
Light must pass from the object throuhg the 
eye, or no image will be formed on the retina ; 
and without this image, we cannot conceive 
it possible that external objects should be 
seen. The transfer of this impression to 
the brain by the optic nerve, and the percep- 
tion which follows, are vital processes ; and, 
of course, may be performed with greater 
or less facility and perfection according to 
the state of the organs on which they de- 
pend. These principles must be regarded 
as established and fundamental, and no the- 
ory of vision, in the present state of science, 
can be admittedwhich is not based on them. 
Darkness, strictly speaking, is the absence 
of light ; but, in the common acceptation 
of the word, its signification is only relative. 
We speak of darkness in relation to the or- 
gans of vision. To organs of a certain con- 
struction an apartment may be quite dark, 
and yet there may be light enough to enable 
animals whose relation to this element is 
different, to see perfectly. For example, 
many quadrupeds, and some birds, can see 
in an atmosphere which, to most men, 



VISION. 101 

would appear totally dark ; and, judging 
from the habits of many tribes of insects, to 
which night is the season of activity and 
enjo)^ment, we should infer that their organs 
are adapted to the degree of light which 
then exists. 

Light and heat are analogous in their 
laws, and in many of their properties. Heat, 
we know, cannot, by any means within our 
control, be entirely abstracted from any body 
or space; for however low the temperature 
may be reduced, we feel confident that the 
reduction might be carried still farther. 

Had we the same means of testing the 
presence of light that we have of heat, we 
should undoubtedly find that it is seldom ab- 
sent from any space, however dark it may 
appear to our senses. 

There are two ways in which objects 
may become visible in an atmosphere com- 
paratively dark. The first is by an enlarge- 
ment of the pupil, a round opening in the 
membraneous partition of the eye, through 
which the light must pass to reach the 
retina. In this way a greater number of 
rays than ordinary will be admitted, and 



; 



102 JANE C. RIDER. 

objects will thus be rendered perceptible 
which were before invisible. Hence it is 
that we can see better after having been a 
few moments in a dark room than when we 
first entered it. The second way in which 
objects may become visible, when there is 
too little light for ordinary vision, is by an 
increase in the sensibility of the retina, so 
that fewer rays than common are necessary to 
make a distinct impression. This increased 
sensibility may be the result of various causes. 
It may be the consequence of long confine- 
ment in the dark. — Some men who have 
been confined in dark cells for years, have 
in this way acquired an astonishing acute- 
ness of vision. Causes affecting the whole 
nervous system may give to the sense of 
sight, in common with the other senses, a 
high degree of sensibility. The history of 
Caspar Hauser* furnishes a remarkable ex- 
ample of this general exaltation of the senses 
— his sense of smell was so acute as to be 
a source of unceasing annoyance — wherever 
he went he was assailed by disagreeable 
odors — almost every thing but bread and 

* See Appendix, Note A- 



CASPAR HAUSER, 103 

water was disgusting to his taste — he could 
see much better in twilight than in open 
day, and in the darkest night needed no 
artificial light to enable him to walk se- 
curely through the most intricate passages 
in the city, or any where within the house. 
Inflammation too, it is well known, occasions 
an uncommon sensibility to light. In cases 
of inflammation of the eye, it often becomes 
necessary not only to exclude the light by 
bandages, but to confine the patient in a 
dark room — a single ray admitted to the eye 
often gives the most intense pain. In all 
cases in which the sensibility of the retina 
is much increased, too strong a light over- 
powers the organ ; in order to see distinctly, 
the degree of light must be less than that 
which would be required in the natural state 
of the eye. 

There is abundant evidence that this 
increased sensibility of the retina existed in 
Jane, and that during the paroxysm it was 
augmented to a very great degree. Hence 
it w T as that the light of the sun always gave 
pain to the eye, even when she was in her 
usual health — hence, too, during the parox- 
ysm, she always closed the eye to exclude 



104 JANE C. RIDER. 

the light ; and, if the paroxysm occurred in 
the day time, made use of the additional 
defence of a bandage This also accounts 
for ihe expression which she once used in a 
cloudy day — " what a beautiful day it is, 
how bright the sun shines !" The small 
quantity of light which passed through the 
eyelid, was sufficient, in the excited state of 
the retina, to give her the impression that 
the sun shone. The extreme pain which 
she experienced when the light was thrown 
upon the unproi ected eyelid, with the mirror, 
is to be explained in the same way. The 
effect was equivalent to that which would be 
produced on a healthy eye, if, when open, 
it were suddenly placed in the focus of a 
powerful lens. These, and many other 
circumstances which might be mentioned, 
leave no room to doubt that the same causes 
which occasioned the paroxysm produced 
a very great temporary augmentation of the 
sensibility of the retina — a sensibility which 
enabled her to see distinctly in a room so 
dark that to common eyes no object was 
discernible. 

But, the question arises, will this state of 



A THEORY. 105 

the retina account for her seeing with her 
eyes closed and bandaged ] That she could 
not see through substances absolutely opaque is 
certain — she could not see through a watch-case, 
nor have I any reason to believe she could per- 
ceive objects through a book or a board, or in a 
distant apartment. Light passes through the 
eyelid, as every one can satisfy himself by 
looking with his eyes closed towards a candle 
or the sun. It also passes through a ban- 
dage, but in so small a quantity as not to be 
noticed by our organs of vision. If in the 
dark, we hold a handkerchief doubled or 
even quadrupled between the eyes and a 
lamp, we can perceive light. We can easily 
conceive therefore that light enough may 
penetrate even a thick bandage to be per- 
ceived when the organ is in a state of h gh 
excitement. 

There is, however, one objection to this 
view of the subject. It may be admitted 
that light penetrates the bandage, and in 
quantity sufficient for vision. But, that a 
person may see external objects, it is neces- 
sary that a distinct image of the object be 
formed on the retina, even though it be a 
10 



106 JANE C. RIDER. 

faint one. Now the rays of light, in passing 
through a bandage, or through the eyelid, 
are so variously refracted that no distinct 
image is formed. If a piece of common 
writing paper be held between the eye and a 
light, the paper appears luminous, but we 
cannot see through it. But, if the paper be 
oiled, it becomes, in a measure, transparent, 
so that we can see through it with tolerable 
distinctness. The rays of light in passing 
through it are then more equally refracted — 
that is, they are all alike bent out of their 
course, so that they afterwards form a dis- 
tinct image. Light enough for vision un- 
questionably often penetrates the eyelid ; 
but still we do not see, nor should we if the 
light were increased a thousand fold ; no 
distinct image would be formed on the reti- 
na. Something more than an extraordina- 
ry sensibility to the impression of light is 
necessary, therefore, in order to understand 
how objects can be seen when the eyes are 
closed. There must be, it appears to me, a 
change in the brain itself — an excited state 
of the organ, in consequence of which per- 
ception, so far, at least, as relates to this or- 



A THEORY. 107 

der of impressions, is effected more readily 
than usual. In this way we can conceive 
that it would be possible for even a confused 
image to be perceived. 

Nor is this a mere supposition, entirely un- 
supported by evidence. There was certain- 
ly some change, in consequence of which 
Jane was able to recall past impressions 
with an extraordinary degree of distinctness. 
The power of perceiving the relation of 
sounds, which constitutes tune, was also de- 
veloped, so that she could sing with a toler- 
able degree of correctness. These facts 
show conclusively, that some relations were 
perceived with a vigor and distinctness al- 
together unusual. Why not, therefore, ad- 
mit that the same change extended to that 
function of the brain by which |the mind 
perceives impressions transmitted from the 
retina? — or, in the language of phrenolo- 
gists, that the organ of color was excited 
equally with that of tune ?* 

In the case of the servant girl, who in her 
paroxysms manifested such an astonishing 

* See Appendix, Kote B. 



108 JANE C. RIDER. 

knowledge of Geography and Astronomy, 
it is not at all probable, that when she 
heard these subjects explained by the tutor 
she understood his meaning. If so, she 
would afterwards have alluded to it. In 
the paroxysms, her intellectual powers were 
so much increased that she comprehended 
what was before to her a mere tissue of 
words without meaning, or what was, at 
best, but very imperfectly perceived. 

One of the most extraordinary examples 
on record, however, of the effect of disease 
in developing the power of perceiving a cer- 
tain class of relations, is that of Zerah Col- 
burn. His history is well known. When 
quite a child, in his sixth year, without any 
previous instruction, he could, by mere in- 
tuition, perceive the relation of numbers with 
so much readiness and precision, as to solve, 
almost without reflection, questions in arith- 
metic, which would require a long calcula- 
tion to enable others to answer. How he 
obtained this result, he could not tell. The 
answer seemed to present itself to his mind 
with the same readiness, and conviction of 



ZERAH COLBURN. 109 

[U truth, that the proposition, two and two 
make four, does to us.* These facts, I say, 
are well known ; but it is not so well known, 
that this power was the effect of disease. 
That such was the case, I have very little 
doubt. This was the opinion of a very dis- 
tinguished physician who saw him at the 
time, and who ascertained that he was then 
affected with a peculiar nervous disease — 
the same which Jane had a few years since. 
In conversing with Mr. Colburn, about a 
year ago, I asked him if he retained the 
power of calculation which he possessed in 
his childhood. He said, No ; and attributed 
the loss to a want of its exercise. But why 
should it require exercise to sustain a faculty 
in existence which was spontaneously de- 
veloped ? 

Facts like these not only give plausibility 
to, but go fai towards establishing, the 
opinion, that the power of perceiving certain 
properties or certain relations may be very 
greatly increased, while the power of 
perceiving other properties, or other rela- 



* See Appendix, Note C. 

10* 



110 JANE C. RIDER. 

tions, is not affected — and that this change 
is the result of physical causes influ- 
encing the brain. I conceive, therefore, 
that the extraordinary power of vision 
manifested by Jane, was the result of 
the combined effect of two causes : — First, 
increased sensibility of the retina, in conse- 
quence of which objects were rendered visi- 
ble in comparative darkness. Second, a 
high degree of excitement in the brain it- 
self, enabling the mind to perceive even a 
confused image of the object. 

It has lately been announced in the news- 
papers as a new discovery that Jane's dis- 
ease was in the stomach, — that all her pe- 
culiar symptoms were occasioned by tem- 
porary determinations of blood to the head, 
produced by the derangement of the diges- 
tive organs. So far from being a new dis- 
covery, this view of the nature of her com- 
plaint has been entertained from its very 
commencement, and upon it have been 
founded principally our hopes of a cure. 

Physiology teaches vis that thought, and 
all the intellectual operations, the suscepti- 



REMARKS. Hi 

bility of receiving impressions of external 
things by means of the senses, and the 
power of voluntary motion, are depend- 
ent on the brain. These functions may be 
entirely suspended by causes affecting this 
organ, as in apoplexy, where there is neither 
thought, motion, or sensation of any kind, 
or they may be modified in a great variety 
of ways. Nor is it always necessary that 
these causes should act directly on the brain 
itself. Such is the connexion between the 
different organs that they exert a mutual 
influence — when one suffers, another par- 
takes in the derangement. Between the 
digestive organs and the brain, this harmo- 
ny of parts, or sympathy, as it is technically 
termed, is particularly intimate. We all 
know that a full meal is not favorable to 
intense mental application, and the sick 
headach has undoubtedly furnished many 
of us with abundant and painful evidence 
of the sympathy between the head and the 
stomach. 

It matters not by what means this mutual 
influence is exerted, whether by occasioning 



112 JANE C. RIDER. 

a determination of blood to the part, or in 
some other way — the fact is all that is im- 
portant, viz. that the sensibility of the dif- 
ferent organs, and the facility with which 
intellectual operations are performed, may 
be increased or diminished by causes which 
affect the brain only indirectly. 

We can now understand how a state of 
ill health, in which the brain is not primarily 
diseased, may occasion a train of symptoms 
with which it seems to have no relation. — 
If it be asked how a physical cause, acting 
either directly or indirectly on the brain, 
can restore to the mind that which had 
been long forgotten, or endow it with the 
power of perceiving relations to which it 
had before been insensible, I can only an- 
swer, I do not know ; nor do I know how 
the brain ever acts, when the mind per- 
ceives or remembers: — we here reach a gulf 
which human intelligence cannot pass. 

The sudden developement of such extra- 
ordinary powers through the influence of 
disease, exhibits in a strong light the nature 
of the relation between the spiritual and 



REMARKS. 113 

material portions of our being. The brain 
is the instrument by means of which the 
mind acts, and the increase of intellectual 
power is the effect of excitement in the phy- 
sical organ. But this view of the case, 
though it establishes the indissoluble con- 
nexion between the state of the bodily func- 
tions and the manifestations of mind, is very 
far from proving that the latter are the mere 
result of organization. Indeed all the facts 
connected with this subject, when properly 
understood, lead directly to the opposite con- 
clusion. The eye is essential to sight, the 
acuteness of which depends on the structure 
and condition of the organ — yet no one 
believes that the eye itself sees — it is only 
the instrument of vision. So of the brain ; it 
is the material organ by means of which the 
mind perceives, thinks and remembers ; and 
these mental acts are performed with a 
greater or less degree of perfection, accord- 
ing to the state of functional excitement in 
the parts on which they depend. And 
when from the mere stimulus of disease, 
we occasionally see the mind exerting un- 



114 JANE C. RIDER. 

wonted powers, and astonishing us by the 
kind and rapidity of its attainments, we 
may, perhaps, form an imperfect idea of its 
condition in a future state, when its means 
of perception will not only be greatly im- 
proved, but vastly multiplied. 

Dr. Woodward, whose standing in the 
profession, as well as opportunities of obser- 
vation, deservedly entitle his opinions to 
great weight, has thrown out some sugges- 
tions on this subject which appear to me as 
just as they are beautiful. They are ex- 
tracted, by permission, from a manuscript 
lecture which he lately delivered. 

" That the mind is dependent upon, and 
intimately connected with, physical develope- 
ment, is one of the fundamental principles 
of physiology. It is useless to shut our eyes 
against the facts on this subject, and blindly 
to doubt, while every step in the progress of 
physiological science shows an intimate 
union between the physical system and the 
mind. In the commencement of our career 
the two systems are alike feeble, helpless, 
and imperfect. The limbs, though complete 
in organization, are almost wh oily f power- 



REMARKS. 115 

less. The organs of sense, too, though per- 
fectly formed, are capable of conveying to 
the mind only the simplest ideas, or the 
most indistinct and confused impressions, all 
of which are transitory, and require frequent 
repetition in order to convey any clear, dis- 
tinct knowledge to the mind. 

This indissoluble union and connexion is 
evinced by the fact that the body and mind 
both repose together ; that one is never 
healthy and vigorous while the other is fee- 
ble and infirm. The phenomena of disease 
show that one cannot be disturbed without 
the other unites in the suffering, and par- 
takes of the evil. In Apoplexy, Catalepsy, 
and Syncope, the mind is apparently anni- 
hilated. A state of complete insensibility 
takes place for a time — all the efforts that 
we can make cannot restore consciousness 
till the physical powers are again renovated. 
Sensibility then returns, and all the mental 
energies, for a while so dormant, are awak- 
ened to life and restored to vigor. In inju- 
ries of the brain by compression or concus- 
sion, the same phenomena take place ; and, 



11G JANE C. RIDER. 

if the injury is serious, the functions of the 
brain are never performed again, and a total 
loos of intellect exhibited in idiotism ; or an 
irregular performance of these functions, and 
incurable insanity is the result. 

And how are we to account for the in- 
fluence of age upon the mind, which appa- 
rently destroys it, so well as to suppose the 
physical system is unfit for its manifestation ? 
If the mind were independent of the body, 
it would lose none of its functions by a de- 
cay of the latter ; and such a decay under 
such circumstances would inevitably lead to 
the conclusion that the mind is annihilated 
when the man ceases to exist. On the 
other hand, the intimate connexion there is 
between a sound body and vigorous mind 
shows that the latter may act in a new sphere 
with all the energy of pristine existence. 

Let us illustrate this by a familiar example. 
Suppose that an experienced player on a 
violin should take an excellent instrument, 
well tuned and well strung, and make music 
upon it of the finest kind. He continues to 
play, and after a w T hile a string wears out 
and is broken — a key gives way and will no 



POWERS OF THE MIND. 117 

longer do its office. He still plays on — the 
music becomes more and more imperfect, till 
finally the instrument is destroyed. Does 
this prove that the player has lost his skill ] 
Surely not — the instrument only is worn 
out. 

"So with the mind — when one and another 
sense and faculty is lost, and finally, in old 
age, every vestige of mind is obliterated — 
to all appearance blotted out forever. — It is 
far from being the fact ; and this deceptive 
appearance is all attributable to the decay 
of the physical system, by which system 
only these manifestations of mind are appa- 
rent ; and a new state of existence, like a 
resuscitation from syncope or asphyxia, will 
bring forth the mind with all its vigor and 
intelligence. And, may it not be that all 
the knowledge which has, for the whole 
life, been treasured up, will at once be 
brought to remembrance ; and the energies 
of the mind, by the new impulses that shall 
then be given them, will be a thousand fold 
greater than they ever have been in their 
primitive existence ? This is a view of the 
11 



118 JANE C. RIDER. 

subject which I have long contemplated, 
and which, for some time, I have believed to 
be true. My opinion is that all knowledge 
once impressed on the mind, remains indeli- 
bly fixed there, and only requires a strong 
stimulus to call it forth. In typhus fever, 
somnambulism, and other affections of the 
brain and nervous system, subjects long for- 
gotten recur with freshness to the mind, 
and are repeated with facility and in deta 1. 
In insanity past impressions return to the 
recollection with pristine freshness : — in 
dreaming, how many facts are presented to 
the mind, which have been for years appa- 
rently lost, because no stimulus sufficiently 
active has been applied to call them forth. 
Forgotten languages recur to the memory 
in disease ; and insane people sometimes 
communicate their ideas in languages of 
which before they retained no recollection. 

" If it should prove in a future state of ex- 
istence, that all the knowledge which we 
gain in this world will, by the increased 
energy of mind, be restored to the recollec- 
tion, and be at the command of the will, 



WISDOM OF THE DEITY. 119 

and in the grand designs of the Almighty 
Intelligence we shall be unceasingly con- 
scious both of the present and past, how 
exalted will be the future destiny of man, 
and how ought we to adore the wisdom and 
benevolence of the Deity !" 



121 



APPENDIX. 



NOTE A. 

The following extracts from the published 
44 Account of Caspar Hauser," an account " drawn 
up from legal documents," and of unquestioned 
credibility, show '* the almost preternatural acute- 
ness and intensity of his sensual perceptions." 

As to his sight, there existed in respect to him 
no twilight, no night, no darkness. This was 
first noticed, by remarking that at night he stepped 
everywhere with the greatest confidence ; and 
that, in dark places, he always refused a light 
when it was offered to him. He often looked 
with astonishment, or laughed at persons, who in 
dark places, for instance when entering a house 
or walking on a staircase by night, sought safety 
in groping their way, or in laying hold on adjacent 
objects. In twilight, he even saw much better 
than in broad daylight. Thus, after sunset, he 
once read the number of a house at the distance 
of ISO paces, which in day light, he would not 
have been able to distinguish so far off. Towards 
the close of twilight, he once pointed out to his 
instructor a gnat, that was hanging in a very 
distant spider's web. At the distance of, certainly 
11* 



122 APPENDIX. 

not less than sixty paces, he could distinguish the 
single berries in a cluster of elderberries from 
each other, and these berries from black currants. 
It has been proved by experiments carefully made, 
that in a perfectly dark night, he could distinguish 
different dark colors, such as blue and green, from 
each other. 

When, at the commencement of twilight, a 
common eye could not yet distinguish more than 
three or four stars in the sky, he could already 
discern the different groups of stars, and he could 
distinguish the different single stars of which they 
were composed, from each other, according to 
their magnitudes and the peculiarities of their 
colored light. From the enclosure of the castle 
at Nuremberg, he could count a row of windows 
in the castle of MarlofFstein ; and from the castle, 
a row of the windows of a house lying below the 
fortress of Rothenberg. His sight was as sharp, 
in distinguishing objects near by, as it was pene- 
trating, in discerning them at a distance. In anat- 
omizing plants, he noticed subtile distinctions and 
delicate particles, which had entirely escaped the 
observation of others. 

Scarcely less sharp and penetrating than his 
sight, was his hearing When taking a walk in 
the fields, he once heard, at a distance compara- 
tively very great, the footsteps of several persons, 
and he could distinguish these persons from each 
other, by their walk. 

Of all his senses, that which was the most 
troublesome to him, which occasioned him the 
most painful sensations, and which made his life 



APPENDIX. 123 

in the world more disagreeable to him than any 
other, was the sense of smelling. What to us is 
entirely scentless, was not so to him. The most 
delicate and delightful odors of flowers, for in- 
stance the rose, were perceived by him as insup- 
portable stenches, which painfully affected his 
nerves. 

What announces itself by its smell to others, 
only when very near, was scented by him at a 
very considerable distance. . Excepting the smell 
of bread, of fennel, of anise, and of caraway, to 
which he says he had already been accustomed in 
his prison, — for his bread was seasoned with 
these condiments — all kinds of smells were more 
or less disagreeable to him. When he was once 
asked, which of all other smells was most agreea- 
ble to him ? he answered, none at all. His walks 
and rides, were often rendered very unpleasant by 
leading him near to flower gardens, tobacco fields, 
nut trees, and other plants whi£h affected his ol- 
factory nerves ; and he paid dearly for his recre- 
ations in the free air, by suffering afterwards from 
headachs, cold sweats, and attacks of fever. He 
smelt tobacco, when in blossom in the fields, at 
the distance of fifty paces, and at more than one 
hundred paces, when it was hung up in bundles 
to dry, as is commonly the case about the houses 
in the villages near Nuremberg. 

He could distinguish apple, pear, and plum 
trees from each other at a considerable distance, 
by the smell of their leaves. The different color- 
ing materials used in the painting of walls and 
furniture, and in the dying of cloths, &c, the pig- 



124 APPENDIX. 

ments with which he colored his pictures, the ink 
or pencil with which he wrote, all things about 
him, wafted odors to his nostrils which were un- 
pleasant or painful to him. If a chimney sweeper 
walked the streets, though at the distance of sev- 
eral paces from him, he turned his face shudder- 
ing from his smell. 

What we call unpleasant smells, were perceiv- 
ed by him with much less aversion, than many of 
our perfumes. The smell of fresh meat was to 
him the most horrible of all smells. When Pro- 
fessor Daumer, in the autumn of 1828, walked 
with Caspar near to St. John's churchyard, in the 
vicinity of Nuremberg, the smell of the dead bo- 
dies, of which the professor had not the slightest 
perception, affected him so powerfully, that he was 
immediately seized with an ague, and began to 
shudder. The ague was soon succeeded by a 
feverish heat, which at length broke out into a 
violent perspiration, by which his linen was thor- 
oughly wet. 

In respect to his sensibility of the presence of 
the metals, and his ability to distinguish them 
from each other by his feelings alone, Professor 
Daumer has collected a great number of facts, 
from which I shall select only a few. In autumn, 
1828, he once accidentally entered a store filled 
with hardware and particularly with brass wares. 
He had scarcely entered, before he hurried out 
again, being affected with violent shuddering, and 
saying that he felt a drawing in his whole body in 
all directions. 

At a time when Caspar was absent, Professor 



APPENDIX. 125 

Daumer placed a gold ring, a steel and brass 
compass, and a silver drawing pen under some 
paper, so that it was impossible for him to see 
what was concealed under it. Daumer directed 
him to move his finger over the paper without 
touching it ; he did so ; and by the difference of 
the sensation and strength of the attraction, which 
these different metals caused him to feel at the 
points of his fingers, he accurately distinguished 
them all from each other according to their respec- 
tive matter and form. — Once, when the physician, 
Dr. Osterhausen, and the royal crownfiscal Brun- 
ner from Munchen happened to be present, Mr. 
Daumer led Caspar, in order to try him, to a table 
covered with an oil cloth, upon which a sheet of 
paper lay, and desired him to say, whether any 
metal was under it ; he moved his finger over it v 
and then said : there it draws ! " But this time," 
replied Daumer, " you are nevertheless mistaken ; 
for," withdrawing the paper, " nothing lies under 
it." Caspar seemed at first to be somewhat em- 
barrassed ; but he put his finger again to the place 
where he thought he had felt the drawing, and 
assured them repeatedly, that he there felt a draw T - 
ing. The oil cloth was then removed, a stricter 
search was made, and a needle was actually found 
there. 

When he laid his hand upon a horse, a cold 
sensation, as he said, went up his arm ; and when 
he was mounted, he felt as if a draught of wind 
passed through his body. But these sensations 
went over after he had several times rode his horse 
around the riding school. 



126 APPENDIX. 

When he caught a cat by the tail, he was seized 
with a strong fit of shivering, and felt as if he had 
received a blow upon his hand. 



NOTE B. 

It will scarcely escape the observations of 
phrenologists, that the organs which, according to 
the system of Spurzheim, correspond to the men- 
tal faculties that were affected during the parox- 
ysms, are grouped together in the anterior part of 
the brain, near the region in which she felt such 
acute pain. The organs of Color, Tune, Time, 
Wit and Imitation, were evidently, in the language 
of phrenology, morbidly excitedo It is certain also 
that the excitement was confined almost entirely to 
the intellectual faculties— the sentiments and pro- 
pensities were not at all affected. There was no 
uncommon manifestation of Benevolence, Venera- 
tion or Hope, nor of Combativeness, Destructive- 
ness, or any other of the propensities. Whatever 
may be said of the specific details of phrenological 
science, the facts brought to light in this and other 
analogous cases, it must be admitted, go very far 
towards establishing the fundamental principle 
that the mind acts by separate, and to a certain 
extent, independent organs. 



APPENDIX. 127 



3VOTE C. 



The power of computation evinced by the 
youthful Colburn, springing up as it did sponta- 
neously, and without any previous instruction, is 
one of the most remarkable facts in the history of 
mind; and is in itself much more incomprehensible 
than the extraordinary acuteness of vision mani- 
fested by the subject of this memoir. Its discov- 
ery was purely accidental. Zerah, not having yet 
completed his sixth year, was overheard by his 
father as he repeated to himself, in his play, parts 
of the multiplication table* The father, surprised 
to find that a boy, who had hitherto possessed no 
advantages beyond a six weeks' attendance at the 
district school, discovered such a knowledge of 
numbers, proceeded to examine him ; and, finding 
him perfect in the table, asked him the product of 
13x97, to which 1261 was instantly given in 
answer. The following extract from a memoir 
written by himself, and published within the last 
year, will show the facility with which he per. 
formed numerical operations in his ninth year. 

At a meeting of his friends which was held for 
the purpose of concerting the best method of pro- 
moting theinterest of the child by an education 
suited to his turn of mind, he undertook and 
succeeded in raising the number 8 to the sixteenth 



128 APPENDIX. 

power, and gave the answer correctly in the last 
result, viz. 281,474,976,710,656. He was then 
tried as to other numbers, consisting of one figure, 
all of which he raised as high as the tenth power, 
with so much faciity and dispatch that the person 
appointed to take down the results was obliged to 
enjoin him not to be too rapid. With respect to 
numbers consisting of two figures, he would raise 
some of them to the sixth, seventh, and eighth 
power, but not always with equal facility ; for the 
larger the products became, the more difficult he 
found it to proceed. He was asked the square 
root of 106,929, and before the number could be 
written down he immediately answered 327. He 
was then requested to name the cube root of 
268,336,125, and with equal facility and prompt- 
ness he replied, 645. 

Various other questions of a similar nature 
respecting the roots and powers of very high num- 
bers, were proposed by several of the gentlemen 
present, to all of which satisfactory answers were 
given. One of the party requested him to name 
the factors which produced the number 247,483, 
which he did by mentioning 941 and 263, which 
indeed are the only two factors that will produce 
it. Another of them proposed 171,395, and he 
named the following factors as the only ones, 
viz. : 5 X 34279, 7 X 24485, 59 X 2905, 83 X2065, 
35X4897, 295x581, 413x415. He was then 
asked to give the factors of 36,083, but he im- 
mediately replied that it had none ; which in fact 
was the case, as 36,083 is a "prime number. 
It had been asserted and maintained by 



APPENDIX. 129 

the French mathematicians that 4294967297 
(=2 32 +l)is a prime number; but the cele- 
brated Euler detected the error by discovering 
that it was equal to 641+6,700,417. The same 
number was proposed to this child, who found Gut 
the factors by the mere operation of his mind. 

On another occasion, he was requested to give 
the square of 999,999 ; he said he could not do 
this, but he accomplished it by multiplying 37037 
by itself, and that product twice by 27. Ans. 
999,998,000,001. He then said he could multiply 
that by 49 which he did: Ans. 48,999,902,000,049. 
He again undertook to multiply this number by 
49 : Ans. 2,400,995,198,002,401. And lastly he 
multiplied this great sum by 25, giving as the 
final product, 60,024,879,950,060,025. Various 
efforts were made by the friends of the boy to 
elicit a disclosure of the methods by which he per- 
formed his calculations, but for nearly three years 
he was unable to satisfy their inquiries, There 
was, through practice, an increase in his power of 
computation ; when first beginning, he went no 
farther in multiplying than three places of figures ; 
it afterwards became a common thing with him to 
multiply four places by four : in some instances 
five figures by five have been given. 



12 



130 APPENDIX. 



LETTERS FROM SEVERAL GENTLEMEN. 

FROM THE HON. WM. B. CALHOUN. 

Boston, Feb. 6, 1834. 
Dear Sir, 

In reply to your note of the 30th ult. I can 
simply state, that I saw Miss Eider, repeatedly, 
in the paroxysms of somnambulism or reverie. 
Her eyes were covered with a closely folded silk 
handkerchief, having a thick wadding of cotton 
underneath — the whole drawn tightly over her 
eyes. In this situation, I saw and heard her read 
whatever was presented to her, promptly and dis- 
tinctly, under circumstances which precluded, in 
my opinion, all chance of deception. Several 
experiments of this nature were tried in my pre- 
sence, which satisfactorily removed all the distrust- 
fulness that I had previously felt. 

Your friend and ob't servt. 

W. B. Calhoun. 

Dr. Belden. 



FROM THE REV. W. B. O. PEABODY. 

Springfield, Feb. 14, 1834. 
Dear Sir, 
I had the pleasure of hearing your lecture de- 



APPENDIX. 131 

livered in the Springfield Lyceum, and with 
respect to those facts which fell under my obser- 
vation, I can confidently add my testimony to 
your own. Before I saw Jane Rider, I had no 
confidence whatever in the reports which I heard 
of her extraordinary power of vision, for the 
simple reason that I thought it more easily 
accounted for on the supposition of imposture : 
acting under this impression, when I first saw her 
in this state, I endeavored to startle her with a 
charge of imposture, so sudden and unexpected, 
that she must have betrayed signs of some 
emotion, of anger at least, had she been conscious 
of what was passing : but such experiments, 
though convincing, were unnecessary ; for the 
most skeptical could not see her, for any length 
of time, without being persuaded that she was 
actually in a deep sleep. I saw your experiments, 
in which you covered her eyes, and after close 
examination, I was convinced that she could not 
see under the bandage : but had she done so, the 
papers which she read, were held in such manner, 
as not to be seen in that direction. While one of 
the cards was before her, I looked at it at the 
same time and the same distance, without being 
able to distinguish a letter ; which was the more 
remarkable, since I ascertained by experiment 



132 APPENDIX. 

when she was awake, that she was very near- 
sighted, not being able to read at the distance of 
two feet what others could read without difficulty 
wiien it was twice as far from their eyes. When 
these experiments and the precise circumstances 
under which they w T ere tried are given to the world 
in your lecture, those, if there are any, who are 
not inclined to admit the facts, will be under the 
necessity of showing in what manner you were 
deceived ; your experiments were as numerous 
and thorough as circumstances would allow : so 
that it will not be enough to discredit the statement 
without explaining how so many witnesses were 
misled, the great proportion of whom, like myself, 
went to the place thoroughly incredulous, and left 
it thoroughly satisfied that there could be neither 
delusion nor imposture. 

Respectfully and truly yours, 

W. B. O. Peabody. 



FROM DR. JOHN STONE. 

Springfield, Feb. 14, 1834. 
Dear Sir, 

In compliance with your request that I would 
give you my opinion of the interesting case of 
Miss Rider, I simply state that, on one occasion^ 
I saw her in a paroxysm of somnambulism, and 



APPENDIX. 133 

heard her repeat distinctly and correctly several 
passages of poetry which, it was said, she could 
not recollect when awake. She also, in my 
presence, with her eyes bandaged, read several 
cards which were presented to her ; and, in a 
single instance, one which was held behind a 
palm-leaf fan in such a manner that, I am satisfied, 
she could perceive it only by light passing through 
the fan. From my observation of the case I am 
convinced that her apparent power of distinguish- 
ing objects in the dark, and with her eyes covered 
is real ; and that the facts which have been ob- 
served cannot be accounted for on the supposition 
of imposture. 

Yours, &c. 

John Stone. 



FROM REV DR. OSGOOD. 

Springfield, Feb. 15, 1834. 
1 hereby certify that I was present when many 
of the experiments were made upon Jane Rider, 
as narrated in the above history of her case, and 
am sure that there could have been no deception 
practised ; I fully believe that every thing written 
by Dr. Belden is without exaggeration. 

Samuel Osgood. 

12* 



134 APPENDIX* 



FROM DR, M. B. BAKER. 

Springfield, Feb. 14, 18?4. 
Having, by the politeness of Dr. Belden, had 
frequent opportunities of seeing Miss Rider, I am 
happy to state that I witnessed many of the most 
remarkable phenomena of her case, and that they 
are correctly described by him in his account of 
her ; that the experiments with regard to vision 
seemed to me to be fairly performed, and that 
there does not seem to me to be the slightest 
reason to suspect her of any attempt to impose 
upon the public. 

M. B. Baker, M. D. 



Errata. 

Page 26, ninth line from bottom, quotation marks at 
The, ending with the chapter. 

" 36, fourth line from bottom, strike out the and, 
u 53, third line from top, powers should be singular. 
62, tenth line from bottom, for however, read to 



write. 

u 

tal. 
u 



63, twelfth line from top, for chrystal, read crys- 
63, fourteenth line from top, for put read buU 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



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